MP TIM Farron says he will fight to bring justice back to Kendal after the closure of the town's 25-year-old courthouse.

Magistrates, clerks and court staff past and present gathered at the Burneside Road building last Friday to say farewell, at the end an era for local justice - almost 25 years to the day since HRH The Princess Royal opened the £2 million court in a fanfare of publicity.

The closure of South Cumbria Magistrates' Court and County Court will see its workload largely transferred to Barrow-in-Furness and Lancaster - a journey of 37 and 23 miles respectively for victims, witnesses and defendants.

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Kendal Town Hall is to hold a limited number of criminal and civil cases monthly, said a spokesman for HM Courts and Tribunals Service. It added there have been no compulsory redundancies.

The closure of Kendal's court has been described as "a travesty" by Suzie Kavanagh, associate solicitor at legal firm Milne Moser, who backed the Gazette's Keep Justice Local campaign of 2015.

"It's really sad," she said. "Something that is an essential piece of civilisation - access to justice in the community - is going and I'm very much fearful that once it's gone it will be regretted and we will never claim it back."

HM Courts and Tribunals Service told the Gazette that during the financial year 2014/15 Kendal's magistrates' and and county courts were only used at "approximately 13 per cent" of their capacity at a cost of £244,000.

However, Mrs Kavanagh said many cases transferred to Barrow for austerity reasons over recent years could and should have been dealt with at Burneside Road.

She said Kendal's courthouse was "user friendly" with disabled access and excellent transport links to the M6 motorway and rail services. Mrs Kavanagh added she was very concerned by potential failures of video technology.

Westmorland and Lonsdale MP Tim Farron told the Gazette the Ministry of Justice was wrong to "press ahead" with closure despite local opposition.

"This short-sighted decision will make life harder for the police, for victims and their families, and access to justice will be diminished," he said.

"What's worse, if the government had looked at the bigger picture and decided instead to move other crown court work to Kendal, as I repeatedly urged them to do, they could have kept a viable local court, saved money and secured local access to justice."

Mr Farron added: "I will now fight to bring these services back to Kendal."

Cumbria's police and crime commissioner Peter McCall told the Gazette he could see the economic argument for closing the court, but he had been keen to find "pragmatic ways" of preserving access to local justice.

They include a new witness suite at Kendal police station, he said, where people will be able to give evidence via video-link technology. Mr McCall said he hoped it would help to "alleviate" travel difficulties, particularly for victims and witnesses.

The police and crime commissioner said he would also be watching out for any additional pressures placed on police officers, such as time taken in transporting prisoners to and from court at Barrow and Lancaster. "We will be keeping a close eye on that," he said.

Retired magistrate John Chew told the Gazette he was "deeply saddened" by the court's closure, describing it as "the only bastion of justice in the immediate location". He said the court and its staff had topped league tables for their efficient workings.

The Burneside courthouse's closure on Friday, June 30 was just shy of 25 years since Princess Anne unveiled a slate plaque to declare it officially open on Monday, July 6, 1992.

Cheering pupils from St Thomas's School greeted HRH, and Dawn Foster, the seven-year-old daughter of court clerk Ken Foster, presented a floral posy. Chairman of the bench Mary Reckitt told the Gazette: "As a courthouse we are extremely proud of it. Everything works, so far, and trade is brisk."

The new building came in for "a great deal of criticism", reported the newspaper, "being described as a cross between a Swiss chalet and a garden centre by one county councillor, and a sore finger by a Burneside Road resident".

However, Kendal Civic Society's chairman Dr John Satchell said he liked the development which he described as a "bold piece of architecture".

The court began dispensing justice in January 1992, replacing cramped and old court chambers at Kendal Town Hall. Almost 2,000 people attended an open day, with the Gazette quipping that "most of them hoped they would never have to return".