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Victory for 'common sense' campaign

The Bolton Evening News has won its
year-long fight to save the town’s magistrates’ courts.

Bolton will now either get a new multi-million pound courthouse or the cash will be spent on refurbishing the existing court building.

A recommendation to close Bolton Magistrates’ Court – and transfer court cases to Bury and other surrounding towns – was scrapped after fierce opposition.

The Bolton Evening News’s Save Our Courts campaign gained huge support, with its petition attracting more than 21,000 signatures from readers.

Steve Hughes, editor of the Bolton Evening News, said: “This is a victory for common sense.

“It would have been madness to close the magistrates’ court in a town the size of Bolton.

“We knew we were right, but the fight was won by everyone involved in the campaign and every one of the 21,638 people who signed our petition.”

The controversial plan was announced by Greater Manchester Magistrates’ Courts Committee last year.

Cases would have been switched to Bury with Bolton’s 64-year-old courthouse closed down by December.

But a bid to attract funding was submitted to the Government just weeks before the May 22 last-ditch GMMCC meeting.

And in a U-turn the committee scrapped its original recommendation and approved the rebuilding or refurbishment plan.

Officials will now work with Bolton Council to decide which option to take.

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