Chichester MP?Andrew Tyrie has written to the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Justice Shailesh Vara urging him not to close Chichester Court buildings.

The Government is considering closing the Combined Court, which includes the Crown Court, County Court for civil hearings and Magistrates Court at Chichester to save money.

The Ministry of Justice started a public consultation, which is now closed, on closing 91 courts and tribunals across England and Wales.

Mr Tyrie, whose constituency which includes Fernhurst and Camelsdale, said: “These proposals are bad news for my constituents, who would have to travel long distances on very congested roads to get to court.

“I hope the Government can be persuaded to reconsider.”

He said in his letter to the minister this month: “The proposed closure is ill thought out.

“The proposal is poorly supported by data and such data as provided appears to be of poor quality.

“Frankly this is not a reasonable way to take significant public policy decisions.

“What’s more, the case for these closures has not been made in the documentation released today.

“Nowhere has a sound financial case been provided.”

Announcing the review in July, Mr Vara said the courts and tribunals service operates 460 courts and tribunal hearing centres.

He said the courts across the country cost taxpayers around half a billion pounds each year, and were underused.

“Last year over a third of all courts and tribunals were empty for more than 50 per cent of their available hearing time,” he said, adding the buildings being considered for closure were only used for around a third of their available time.

But Mr Tyrie, whose comments were echoed by the Law Society, said the combined court at Chichester is “very heavily” used.

“It has a ‘court usage’ figure of 78 per cent,” he told the minister.

“This is well over twice the average of the south east. Court use in the rest of the south east ranges from 11 per cent to 65 per cent.

“The average is 33.5 per cent,” said the Tory MP, adding that the court centre more than covers its operating costs in court revenue.

If Chichester Magistrates’ Court was to be closed, the nearest alternatives would be Crawley, Horsham or Worthing.

The nearest crown court centre in Sussex would be at Hove.