Update.... A LA Appeals Officer has very kindly forwarded some information that may be relevant to this thread. He has given full permission for the following to be posted:
-------------------- At the last user group meeting on 28/7/09, the following was said about the Reading venue (taken from the minutes):-
6. A great deal of concern was expressed about the delay being encountered in the listing of Reading appeals. Appeals can now take up to six months between their being lodged with the FTA and being heard. This is always problematic but particularly so in HB cases when possession proceedings have begun.
7.Miss Burns acknowledged the problems with the venue. She explained that there is difficulty obtaining a tribunal room for SSCS use as often as we need one. SSCS estimate is that we now need one most days every week and the Employment Tribunal will only make one available on two, sometimes three, days each week. The SSCS need for additional space at the venue has been reported to the Senior President and the Chief Executive of the Tribunal Service. Miss Burns also acknowledged difficulties with clerks at both Reading and Oxford in that they were no longer controlled by Birmingham but by South East Region. Steps are being taken by administrators to resolve the accommodation problem by renting temporary premises, using other judicial premises such as the court, using nearby tribunal venues such as Oxford or Aldershot, or having greater use of the ET rooms. Of those the latter remains the preferred alternative because of familiarity of the premises. Miss Burns agreed that the present delays were unacceptable.
Jessica Burns is the Regional Judge and Godfrey Cole is the District Judge. In order to get onto the User Group an e-mail should be sent to [email protected] The next meeting is in 2010, but no specific date has been set as yet. -----------------------------------
The Appeals Officer observes that if Basingstokes appeals have been transferred to Reading, this will inevitably add to the pressure already affecting all concerned.
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