THERE are fears police resources will be put under strain in Balranald following confirmation the local court will close at the end of the year.
After a year-long campaign to keep the service open, the Balranald Shire Council was advised earlier this week that due to a “significant decrease” in workload and demand for registry services, it was no longer cost effective to keep the court open.
The court sits one day a month at the council chambers, while the registry is open two days a week.
Council’s acting general manager Elizabeth White said they were now seeking urgent meetings with the New South Wales Attorney General to reiterate the community’s concerns about closing the service.
She said one of the major concerns was that the closest courthouses were 180km away at Wentworth or 250km away at Deniliquin and the flow on effect this isolation would have on the town’s tiny police station.
“If residents are attending court out of town, they’re taking police out of town with them,” she said.
For more on this story, pick up a copy of Friday’s Guardian (September 18).
