NEWPORT Magistrates’ Court closed its doors last week, with its replacement not expected to open until summer 2013.

Cases are being transferred to Gwent’s other courts in Abergavenny, Cwmbran and Caerphilly, until the new court building is completed.

Nobody would say why the building suddenly closed when it had been deemed as ‘not fit for purpose’ years ago.

A spokeswoman for Her Majesty’s Courts and Tribunals Service confirmed the closure with effect from January 1, 2012.

She added: “Pending the completion of a new court building, currently under construction at Lower Dock Street, alternative HMCTS venues across Gwent, including Newport Crown Court at Faulkner Way, will be used to accommodate magistrates’ court hearings.

“It is anticipated that the new courthouse will be completed in summer 2013.”

Newport City Council’s planning committee gave unanimous backing to plans for a state-of-the-art courthouse in Pill in October 2009 and initial groundworks started on the site in Mission Court, off Lower Dock Street last summer.

The new building will include four courtrooms over three storeys, along with holding cells for defendants, a 22-space car park and public spaces for visitors.

Up to 34 new jobs could be created, with some positions filled by transferring staff from other courts.

Proposals for a new magistrates’ court were first mooted in 1987 and the current magistrates’ court on Clytha Park Road was declared unfit for purpose more than ten years ago.

There are three courtrooms in the existing building, with magistrates and district judges also making use of one of the courtrooms in the crown court nearby.

The new courthouse will be a contemporary design that could become a modern landmark for the city with a plateglass entrance hall opening on to Usk Way.

The court service will also be striving to achieve BREAM excellence, by designing the building to be as environmentally friendly as possible.

An HMCTS spokesperson later added with regard to the timing of the closure: "As soon as it had been confirmed that construction of the new court building in Newport could proceed HMCTS commenced planning to move work from the Civic Centre to alternative locations in Gwent. This was the earliest that the new arrangements could be implemented with a minimum of disruption."