March 27, 2001 14:54: CONTROVERSY surrounds plans to build a new court-house in Gravesham and the possible closure of Gravesend County Court.

A report by Kent Magistrates Court Committee (KMCC) has proposed a new court building for Gravesend and Dartford to be built some time after 2006.

Gravesham MP Chris Pond says he would welcome a new facility to ease the growing pressure on magistrates in Dartford since the closure of Gravesend Magistrates Court last year. But KMCC chief executive Stephen Savage claims Dartford is not under pressure and blames the Government for changes to working hours in the courtroom.

Mr Pond said: "We need a state-of-the-art courts complex, possibly including a police facility. This has my full support and I think Ebbsfleet would be an ideal place."

Mr Savage says the KMCC report, Delivery of Summary Justice in Kent: 2004 and Beyond, looks at court provision in the long-term "but no decision has been made about the location."

A KMCC survey in 1999 showed 76 per cent of people were satisfied with magistrates courts facilities in Gravesham and Dartford.

But after the closure of Gravesend Magistrates last year, this fell to 62 per cent. The KMCC target is 80 per cent. The new complex, which could be a joint project with the police, may also house Gravesend County Court, which looks set to close.

A police spokesman said: "We have been considering for more than a year the possibility of a new complex to be shared with the courts."

Plans to close the county court in King Street were put forward in 1998 and a public consultation was held the following year.

A spokesman for The Lord Chancellor's Department, which is responsible for the court, said: "Ministers are now considering whether the county court could be housed somewhere else in Gravesend but that has yet to be resolved."