8 June, 2000
LAP OF LUXURY:
Judges can rest in stately home-style comfort at Carr Manor in Leeds Lavish lodgings for judges costing £15,000 a night
BY LOUISE JONES
TOP judges are staying in grace and favour lodgings which cost the taxpayer an average of £15,000 a night.
A review has now been ordered into how the luxury lifestyles of High Court judges can be curbed.
It could lead to many of the 32 private lodges used by senior judges when hearing cases outside London being closed. The Lord Chancellor Lord Irvine confirmed the residences - which are often housed in historic buildings - cost almost £5million to run during 1999/2000. They are used by judges an average of 333 nights a year. Butlers are also available to wait on the judges.
The daily cost per head massively outstrips the cost of staying in one of the country's most exclusive hotels. A suite at the Ritz costs £1,200.
A spokeswoman for the hotel said: "We would be happy to have judges here. The view they would get over Green Park would be much better than some lodge and we could provide them with whatever they wanted - even foie gras at 4am. And it would still be cheaper."
High Court judges sitting in cases outside London are free to use the lodgings - which are meant to provide a comfortable and secure environment for them to work.
The review is intended to compare the value for money provided by the lodgings with alternative accommodation. Britain's most expensive judges' lodge is a Seventies penthouse apartment with panoramic views of the Clwyd hills, in Mold, Wales. It costs £12,763 a week when in use.
Larkbeare House, a eight- bedroom Victorian mansion in Exeter, Devon is guarded by a 10ft stone wall and costs £4,100 a week. Meanwhile, the state pays £10,897 per judge per week for Telscombe Manor in Lewes, East Sussex. These figures do not include the amount paid in staff salaries and maintenance when the buildings are not in use.
For example, the Neo-Gothic Carr Manor in Leeds costs an £122,000 a year to upkeep.
Lord Irvine's review has taken more than two years. It follows a 1995 Court Service report which found some of the lodgings were "very poor" value for money. It said full- time butlers were outdated and questioned whether servants were needed to wait on judges.
The report also highlighted the £500,000 a year spent on chauffeur-driven Rolls Royces to ferry judges to work.
Perks such as servants and limousines to transport judges to court, could be also be scrapped in the review.
Lord Irvine will look at the locations of the lodgings and decide whether they can be merged or closed - with judges using hotels for short visits. His findings will be published next month. Officials at the Lord Chancellor's Department maintain it is vital for judges to have safe, quiet accommodation where they can prepare cases.
Lord Irvine may face resistance from judges if he orders a sell-off of the properties. The Court Service has a saleable interest in 14 of the residences with an estimated capital value of £6.94million.
Senior judges have rejected calls for reform claiming they are "not pampered but imprisoned" in their lodgings.
They have dismissed suggestions they could use cheaper hotels saying there would be a danger of bumping into lawyers and others involved in trials.The Lord Chancellor himself was accused of extravagance after spending £750,000 on the refurbishment of his official residence in Westminster. He has been accused of dragging his heels over the issue by Tory critics.
(c) Express Newspapers, 2000
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