WESTERN BUREAU — Member of Parliament for Eastern Hanover, Barrington Gray, has called on justice minister A J Nicholson to reopen the Ramble courthouse in the parish which has been closed for more than 10 years.

According to Gray, the closure of the facility has caused undue hardship to residents in sections of Hanover who have to travel long distances to have their matters heard.

“The closure has resulted in residents in communities such as Mount Peto, Chester Castle and Axeandadge travelling to the Sandy Bay and Lucea courthouses at great costs,” Gray pointed out.

Michael Cohen, public relations officer in the justice ministry, told the Observer that the building is not yet “fully furnished”.

“There is still some amount of work to be done on the facility concerning the installation of benches and desks but these should be completed by mid-January,” he said.

He was unable to say, however, when the facility would be reopened.

But Gray contended that at a public forum in the parish nearly a year ago, Nicholson said that the Ramble courthouse would be reopened within another two months.

“Now almost a year has passed and it is still not yet reopened,” Gray complained.

“Days before the general election last year, they brought some benches there but nothing else had been done. The yard is now overgrown with grass,” he added.

The Ramble courthouse was abandoned in 1988 after it was badly damaged by hurricane Gilbert. Its closure was not only an inconvenience to magistrates and members of the communities it once served, but it also increased the workload to be dealt with at the other courthouses in the parish.

However in August 2000, the Urban Development Corporation (UDC) began rehabilitation work on the facility at a cost of $3.5 million.

The work which included repairs to the roof, floors, walls, plumbing and electrical systems, as well as landscaping of the grounds, was slated to have been completed in February 2001.