COUNTY councillors are making a last-ditch bid to save four courthouses threatened with closure as part of a cost-cutting efficiency drive.

The magistrates' courts in Richmond, Whitby, Pickering and Selby all face the axe as part of proposals to save £300,000 a year.

A decision is expected at the end of this month but so far the proposal has met with widespread opposition across the county.

And the county council has now expressed its strong opposition to the scheme in a letter to North Yorkshire's magistrates' courts committee.

The authority fears that closing the courthouses could give rise to great difficulties for victims of, or witnesses to, crimes by forcing them to endure substantial increases in travel times and costs. It points out: "Local justice should be seen to be administered locally so that it can command local respect and support."

The closures would leave the county - the biggest in the country - with only five operating courthouses, in Northallerton, York, Harrogate, Scarborough and Skipton.

And the county council's executive member with corporate responsibilities, Murray Naylor, insisted yesterday: "Local services should be delivered locally. Even if that is at an additional cost in sparsely populated rural areas, a situation which the county council has to address in respect of very many of its services."

He added: "Operational efficiency is always likely to be highest when delivering service through centralised locations - but this will inevitably be at the expense of the accessibility for users or other residents of the county who don't live in the service centres.

"The great benefit of having local courts is that they are presided over by local magistrates who are familiar with local areas, the people who live in them and how they operate."

Councillors are also concerned about how the closures would impact on a county which is already struggling with the fall-out from the foot-and-mouth crisis.

In particular they are anxious about the negative message they claim would be sent to the people of the three districts which would be left with no courthouse