BOLTON courts are shutting their doors from Monday, with essential work transferred to the courts in Manchester.

The normally bustling crown and magistrates' courts based at the Blackhorse Street building have become increasingly quiet as the coronavirus crisis has meant trials and non-urgent cases are put on hold and barristers advised not to attend court in person.

And now the Ministry of Justice has decided to consolidate work of courts and tribunals into fewer buildings, leaving only 43 percent of them around the country open for the time being.

Lord Chancellor Robert Buckland said: "We are facing an unprecedented challenge and the government’s absolute priority is to save lives and protect the NHS.

"With each part of our justice system - from police to probation - dependent on one another, it is vital that we keep our courts running.

"This will only be done while ensuring the safety of the public, judges, legal professionals, staff and all those attending hearings and I’d like to thank everyone for their extraordinary efforts so far."

Over the last two weeks courts, including Bolton's Combined Court at Blackhorse Street, have attempted to keep going by using technology.

The court is very used to using video links to prisons so that defendants remanded in custody do not have to attend in the court building in person.

And, following advice from the Bar Council, barristers are not attending court, relying instead upon prosecuting and defending cases from home via the telephone.

But the Lord Chief Justice, Lord Burnett says more needs to be done to ensure people's safety and so only158 priority court and tribunal buildings out of the 371 crown, magistrates and family courts in England and Wales will stay open for essential face-to-face hearings.

He says it will allow effective social distancing for all court users and for cleaning and security work to be focused on fewer buildings.

"An extraordinary amount of hard work has gone into keeping our justice system functioning," said The Lord Chief Justice.

"Technology is being used creatively to ensure that many cases can continue. Not everything can be dealt with remotely and so we need to maintain functioning courts.

"These temporary adjustments to how we use the court estate will help ensure that we can continue to deal with work appropriately in all jurisdictions whilst safeguarding the well-being of all those who work in and visit the courts."

The closures are expected to remain in place until the end of the crisis but the Ministry of Justice says they will be reviewed regularly.