A campaign to save a North Yorkshire court from closure at the end of the year has won an influential ally in the House of Lords.

Baroness Harris of Richmond is a former chairman of the North Yorkshire Police Authority and also served on North Yorkshire County Council until last year.

However, as a former member of the Richmond Bench, she has strong feelings on the administration of local justice.

And, yesterday, she condemned the decision by the North Yorkshire Magistrates Courts Committee to axe Richmond's courthouse in December, moving cases to Northallerton instead.

Speaking from Westminster, Baroness Harris said: "The closure of Richmond is based on an unfounded proposal to modernise Northall-erton, which does away with the concept of local justice."

Baroness Harris also confirmed the reason she stood down as a JP was because she did not feel she would be qualified to preside over cases from other parts of the region, once the court moved.

"As a magistrate from Richmond, I felt I would be unsighted when dealing with cases from Northallerton or Stokesley. It is far better to have someone on the Bench who knows the people or the town in detail.

She added: "In an area as vast as ours, it is not always easy to travel and it is iniquitous to close justice to people who want to be heard. We must remember that people are not guilty until they have been convicted in court."

North Yorkshire County Council is also opposing the closure at Richmond, and has confirmed it will be pressing the Lord Chancellor to intervene.

The debate also made BBC Radio 4 last week, when chairman of the Richmond Bench, Catherine Carr, was interviewed for the station's You and Yours programme.

"We have had a lot of positive feedback since, which is very encouraging," she said.

"However, it was galling to discover the Home Office has already approved a £1m grant to pay for improvements in Northallerton when it would have cost just £12,000 to bring Richmond up to the modern courthouse standards."