By Latrishka Thomas
Workers at the St John’s Magistrate’s Court could soon return to their original quarters as the repairs being done on the building are set to be completed within weeks.
That also means that residents of Grays Green should get their community centre back in short order.
This was disclosed by Minister of Works Lennox Weston who said repairs are “far advanced” on the High Street building.
“We expect in the next eight weeks that should be completed. That’s also going through an entire overhaul. Not only the roof but we’re refreshing the total inside, building back bathrooms…it’s gonna be a brand new building by the time we’re finished,” he shared.
The St John’s Magistrate’s Court officially began sittings at the Grays Green Community Centre on April 29 2019.
Staff had been working half days for several months due to unsatisfactory conditions at the building on High and Temple streets.
In December 2018, the workers, through their union, wrote to the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Legal Affairs about the situation and gave the authorities three months to relocate them.
That period ran out at the end of March 2019 prompting the relocation to the “Knuckle Block” facility, which was originally intended to be a sports complex and community centre.
The move was met with criticism from community members, including the United Progressive Party representative for the area, Richard Lewis.
Their patience ran thin as the use of the community centre as a court continued for much longer than was originally anticipated.
Weston explained that the plan is to ensure that all facilities which support the maintenance of law and order in the country are in good condition.
“We have an ongoing rebuilding programme so we came out of All Saints Magistrate’s Court and we built one at Transport Board, we did the headquarters at Old Parham Road, we do the one at downtown St John’s, we are doing one at Bolans.
“We also did a brand new family court in the original High Court building and we also did another court room within that same building,” he said.