Dumfries’ sheriff court has been described as “crumbling” by a politician who lashed out at the Scottish Government for failing to cough up cash for repairs.
Almost £500,000 is needed to carry out work at both Dumfries and Stranraer Sheriff Court buildings, according to the figures obtained by the Scottish Conservatives from the Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service.
And local MSP Finlay Carson has slammed the Scottish Government and accused it of “taking its eye off the ball over crumbling court buildings”.
He insists that repairs totalling more than £7 million are now required to bring many of the courts up to an adequate standard, fixing leaky roofs, ceilings and damp.
The Galloway and West Dumfries MSP (below) said: “Clearly the Scottish Government has been neglecting its duty towards maintaining court buildings, preferring instead to waste money on vanity projects.
“They cannot expect court staff, lawyers and the general public to have to put up with buildings that are simply not fit for purpose.
“These essential repairs need to be tackled now to ensure that the already enormous backlog of court cases doesn’t grow even larger.”
According to the freedom of information response, the SCTS insists that £220,000 of maintenance work is required at Dumfries Sheriff Court to convert a former library into an interview room while money is also needed to convert a substation.
A similar sum needs to be spent at Stranraer Sheriff Court on replacing the boiler system plus survey work carried out into the building’s drainage system.
Overall, the cost of repairs across Scotland’s court buildings equates to almost the entire £8 million capital budget of the Scottish Courts and Tribunal Service.
And that capital budget was £5 million less than the £13 million the SCTS had requested from the SNP Government.
The Scottish Government previously revealed how the courts were told by Scottish Government Ministers that justice was no longer considered a priority.
Scottish Conservatives Shadow Cabinet Secretary for Justice Jamie Greene MSP said: “The shocking scale of repair work required to keep our courts safe and habitable should set alarm bells ringing for the SNP Government.
“The court service requested more capital funds to address this maintenance backlog – but they were ignored and short-changed to the tune of £5 million by ministers.”
He added: “There are tens of thousands of trials outstanding in Scotland’s courts, leaving victims of crime waiting years for justice.
“This number could get even larger if the state of our courts is not addressed as a matter of urgency.”
A spokesperson for the Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service said: “The safety and security of all those who use court and tribunal facilities is a key priority for SCTS.
“We have an extensive and historic estate across Scotland which we maintain to ensure that business can be conducted in a safe environment.
“Similar to all organisations with a large property estate, effective management and planning of backlog maintenance is key to ensuring that the most essential works are carried out as a priority.
“In addition to the annual budget settlement we work closely with Scottish Government to secure additional in-year capital funding, to match our maintenance programme.
“There have been no instances where an SCTS building maintenance issue has resulted in a court closure or impacted on any trials.”
A Scottish Government Spokesperson said: “We are working with the Scottish Courts and Tribunal Services to support improvement works to their current court facilities to help continue the delivery of services.
“We also continue to support justice agencies to take action to address the backlog caused by the COVID pandemic.
“This includes funding of £26.5m to the Scottish Courts and Tribunal Service to maintain enhanced court capacity and remote jury centres and builds on our £50m programme in 2021-22. These measures are having a positive impact on the backlog with reductions in the number of outstanding scheduled trials seen each month this year.”
