A 'super courtroom' has opened in Loughborough

The ‘super courtroom’ will allow up to an extra 250 cases a year to be heard across England and Wales.

£2.7 million has been spent to revamp Loughborough Magistrates’ Court to create a space that is much larger than a usual courtroom.

This is the second 'super courtroom' to open in the country.

The size of the room allows trials with a large number of defendants such as in drug trafficking, murders, and money laundering, to take place. 

Cases that involve three or more defendants accounted for almost a fifth of all trials waiting to be heard in mid-October and these have built up during the pandemic due to social distancing measures.

The ‘super courtroom’ will be able to hear these trials whilst also freeing up capacity elsewhere in the courts' system.

Dominic Raab, Deputy Prime Minister and Justice Secretary, said: "This new super courtroom will be an important asset as we start to reduce the backlog. It will free up space elsewhere in our court estate – allowing us to hear up to 250 extra cases every year. It forms part of our broader plan to build back better from the pandemic, investing £500 million to reduce waiting times and speed up the delivery of justice for victims."

£1 billion has been allocated to the Ministry of Justice in the Spending Review and nearly half of this will help improve waiting times and reduce court backlogs.