A GOVERNMENT minister has confirmed that a Hampshire court could close – but says that any shutdown would be temporary.

Bridget Prentice, parliamentary under secretary of state at the Ministry of Justice, was responding to a parliamentary question tabled by New Forest East MP Julian Lewis.

As reported in the Daily Echo, officials are thinking of “mothballing” New Forest Magistrates’ Court as part of a major cost-cutting drive.

If the closure goes ahead, defendants would have to travel from the Forest to Southampton Magistrates’ Court to have their cases heard.

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