A London courthouse has been dubbed “truly dreadful” with the “ugliest courtrooms in England”, amid fresh calls for significant and long-term funding in the criminal justice system.
Barrister Philip Stott took aim at the 1970s extension to Inner London crown court in Borough, and described his experience of defending in a trial last year when flooding caused delays and water came “gushing” through the ceiling of the lawyers’ dining room.
He likened criminal trial hearing rooms to “cold-storage lockers”, and said some courts have become “warehouses for the provision of minimally acceptable services”.
He made the remarks in a new Bar Council blog criticising past decisions to slash funding from the justice system, and called for an end to “short-term budgetary cuts” which “prejudice the long-term future of our court estate”.
Mr Stott’s intervention comes as former Lord Chief Justice Lord Burnett of Maldon said the criminal courts in recent years have been “starved” of funding with services “cut to the bone”.
He highlighted dwindling numbers of lawyers working in the criminal courts, causing extra delays as trial cannot take place due to a lack of legal representation.
On Thursday, the Ministry of Justice published the latest figures for the criminal court backlog, showing 66,468 cases currently in the system.
In his blog, Mr Stott, a junior barrister and co-chair of the Bar Council's Legal Services Committee, said Inner London crown court is split into two parts – the historic building constructed in the 1920s and 1950s containing four courtrooms, and the extension built in the 1970s which is nicknamed the “chocolate box”.
The older part of the courthouse “looks great”, he said, with wood panelled corridors and rooms, double-height ceilings, ornate carvings, and wooden benches.
But he went on: “It is, of course, almost totally inaccessible to anyone with mobility issues. It is too hot in summer and too cold in winter. Due to the ceilings, the acoustics are terrible, particularly for defendants due to the modern introduction of a high-sided secure dock.”
Turning to the extension, Mr Stott wrote: “Then there is a truly dreadful two-storey 1970s extension to the side – Courts 5-10 – nicknamed ‘the chocolate box’ because its exterior is clad in brown tinted glass, reminiscent of the cellophane on confectionary from times past.
“Each court room is on one level, so at least they are more usable, but the ceilings are low, and the walls are made of bare whitewashed breezeblocks, thereby giving the impression of conducting a trial in a cold-storage locker. They are perhaps the ugliest court rooms in England.
“This aesthetic difference vividly shows how the courts moved from being expressions of municipal pride to warehouses for the provision of minimally acceptable services.”
He outlined an experience from last year when a “leak caused flooding onto apparently exposed wiring” which meant that the staff refused to escort prisoners through the tunnel connecting the cells to the 1970s extension.
Half a day of court time was lost, and he added: “I went into the advocates’ dining room to work (not to eat, the kitchen there closed many years ago) and saw water gushing from the ceiling and a despondent member of staff arranging wheelie-bins underneath.”
Mr Stott called Inner London a “microcosm” of the issues facing the criminal justice system, he pointed out that the Old Bailey is an example of how older buildings can be “sympathetically modernised” with the right funding, and he highlighted that Blackfriars crown court – a modern, accessible courthouse – had been shut down in 2019.
“HMCTS will, perfectly properly, point to large amounts won from the Treasury for renewing the Court estate. That is to be welcomed, of course. There is, though, a mountain of work to be done, and even these millions will not be enough to make all courts fit for purpose, particularly if the overall budget is squeezed yet again.
“My point is a broader one. Over decades, and particularly recently during austerity, the court estate was trimmed right to the bone. Buildings were not invested in by way of proper maintenance or refurbishment, or they were simply disposed of.
“It is relatively easy and quick to get rid of a courthouse on the grounds it is temporarily underused (Blackfriars) or too expensive to make fit for modern life compared to its underlying real estate value (Bow Street, Tower Bridge etc).
“Just like prisons, it takes an enormously long time, and a great deal of money, to either properly refurbish an old court, or to create a new court.
“Whoever has control of the Ministry of Justice after the next election must never allow the situation to develop where short-term budgetary cuts are again allowed to prejudice the long-term future of our court estate. Otherwise, the costs that will have to be borne by the next generation will simply be all the higher.”
Speaking on The University of Law’s podcast ‘The Judges: Power, Politics and the People’, Lord Burnett said the court system has been “cut right to the bone, essentially through not providing any increases for many years, although obviously there was inflation.”
He said lawyers have turned away from the criminal justice system due to low levels of pay and working conditions, causing extra delays in the system which hamper efforts to tackle the backlog.
“You can’t flick a switch and undo the damage that’s been done over really ten or more years”, he said.
“And so, I think that is something that is going to require the continued attention of government for quite a long time to ensure that the criminal legal aid fraternity community, solicitors and barristers, is able to do the work that needs to be done and is self-renewing.”
Last week’s budget included a planned 4.8 per cent cut in operational justice spending in 2024/25, but a 20 per cent rise in money for capital expenditure.
The Law Society welcomed the extra money that had been allocated but said it is “nowhere near enough”, while the Magistrates Association dubbed it a “missed opportunity”.
“While the extra money announced—as part of new plans for public sector productivity—is welcome, all parts of the justice system, from the provision of court legal advisers and probation officers, to the dire state of our court buildings, need considerable new investment if justice is to be served fairly and efficiently”, said Magistrates Association chief executive Tom Franklin.
The Treasury had previously allocated £220 million over two years for spending on court repairs, maintenance and upgrades.
