MAGISTRATES courts have dealt with 7,000 more cases in the past 12 months than in the previous year.

The county's magistrates' courts committee annual report for 2003/2004 shows that the general workload was up by six per cent.

This was due to work carried out by local criminal justice agencies to meet Government targets on increasing the number of offenders brought to justice.

Richmond Court House closed at the end of March and all its cases were transferred to Northallerton Magistrates' Court.

It was given a two-year £1.8m make-over and re-opened in January. Funding has now been secured to start the refurbishment of Scarborough Courthouse.

The report also shows that the average times taken to deal with both serious criminal cases and persistent young offenders was less than the national average.

North Yorkshire was one of only four areas nationwide to have met the Government targets for four consecutive years.

Ninety-eight per cent of fines were collected and a high proportion of arrest warrants for people in breach of community penalties were executed within 28 days.

Feedback from court users showed they were more satisfied than in the past with court facilities and information provided.