THE closure of Leigh magistrates' court in two months' time has sparked outrage.

Community leaders and prominent members of the legal profession have attacked the decision by the Lord Chancellor's Department to turn down an appeal to keep the Chapel Street court open.

The last case to be heard at the court -- which has operated for more than 100 years -- will be on March 30 before they are transferred to Wigan Magistrates Court in Darlington Street.

Wigan councillors, Leigh's MP, local magistrates and solicitors, the Citizens' Advice Bureau and community groups have come forward to condemn the North and West Greater Manchester Magistrates' Courts Committee who put forward the radical plans to streamline the judiciary in November 1999.

The Leigh Journal launched a campaign to keep the court open and Wigan Council announced an appeal to the Lord Chancellors' department at the beginning of last year.

We revealed that it cost just £37,100 a year to run - £45 for each court per day. The Journal won praise this week for our stand on the court closure from the chief magistrate at the court.

Chairman of Leigh magistrates Dennis Dunn, said: "I give recognition to the campaign and The Journal's fight that helped us tremendously in getting support. I am very grateful. I think The Journal's support added a great deal more weight."

Objectors argued that closure would be against the interests of local people, both defendants and their families and also witnesses giving evidence.

Scores of local dignitaries and those from the legal profession say it is a black day for Leigh. Magistrate Peter Turner, who is also Wigan Council member for Hindley Green, said: "It's very sad news for the people of Leigh. The infrastructure of the town has been suffering for years with the closure of the mills and the pits."

Leigh MP Lawrence Cunliffe said: " It's a disaster. The decision is based on a cost cutting measure. It's nothing to do with the administration of justice.

"It will cause tremendous inconvenience to the public, especially travelling on public transport. The cost of this will fall on ordinary people."

And he made a personal attack on Government minister Jane Kennedy, private secretary to the Lord Chancellor, with whom he had meetings to persuade her to allow the court to stay open, saying: "She says that a one hour journey is "not an unreasonable distance". She is obviously completely insensitive to the needs of the public who don't have a ministerial car to travel in."

Wigan Council leader Lord Smith of Leigh said: "This is a bad decision made in the interests of the professionals not the public. I am extremely disappointed and angry that the views of the local authority, the Leigh Magistrates' Court and the people of Leigh have not been taken on board.

"They have ripped the heart out of the town. It is a sad day for Leigh."

Leigh solicitor Michael Heyman, of Heyman and Co Solicitors based in Church Street, said: "It's an absolute scandal. It is a retrograde step. It's a retrograde step for the provision of local justice. I'm infuriated. They do just what they want."

Cllr Mark Hale, who chaired the campaign group to stop the closure, said: "It's an appalling decision. We put up a very strong case that the court should remain in Leigh." He said that Leigh was being closed to justify the building of the new court building in Wigan which was then proved to be under-used.

Citizens Advice Bureau co-ordinator Marie Rice said the court at Wigan was difficult to use for those in wheelchairs and car park was across a busy road. She added: "It will have a tremendous knock-on effect to the community."

The effects of the closure will go far beyond the court, with the threat of solicitors firms pulling out of the town and an economic blackspot in the Chapel Street area of town where the court is situated. Police time will also be wasted travelling to Wigan for cases.

Defending the decision, chief executive of the North and West Greater Manchester Magistrates' Courts Committee Terence McNeill said: "We went throughout the business of consultation when the original decision was made. The crown prosecution service and the probation service were not against the closure. They could see practical benefits. We have to look at the whole picture." Leigh magistrates would still deal with Leigh cases, he added. He admitted that Leigh was almost running to capacity with 2,860 court hours for the three courts -- just 140 short of the Lord Chancellor's recommendations.

But Wigan is dramatically under-used -- four out of the 10 courts at Wigan are empty. Petitions against closure were placed in Leigh town hall, Atherton and Tyldesley district offices and Leigh library and local residents expressed overwhelming opposition to the plans. In a letter to Wigan Council, the Lord Chancellor's Department said: "In respect of the Leigh Magistrates' Court, although each of its three courtrooms is used, the MCC is concerned about health and safety and security implications at the court." The building was opened in the early 1960s, after the courts in Church Street - built in 1876 - were shut down.