The location of the Supreme Court inside London's Middlesex Guildhall Crown Court was chosen as a result of an arbitrary decision to base the new court within one mile of Whitehall, the Lord Chancellor was forced to admit last week.


The law lords are also far more unhappy about the decision than Lord Falconer will admit, according to an email from Lord Hoffman to Save Britain's Heritage (SBH), seen by the Gazette. They wanted a purpose-built court, he said.



Lord Falconer last week told MPs on the constitutional affairs select committee that 'there was detailed consultation' with the law lords about the changes inside Middlesex Guildhall and they 'indicated as a group that they were satisfied with the appropriateness of the changes'.



But according to an email sent from Lord Hoffman to SBH in December 2006, Lord Falconer presented the law lords with a fait accompli. Lord Hoffman wrote that 'few, if any, of the Law Lords were in favour of moving to the Middlesex Guildhall'.



He told SBH that Lord Falconer was prepared to recommend only the Middlesex Guildhall site and the law lords were consulted only on whether the plans for the Guildhall were 'appropriate for the purposes of the court'. 'To this question the Law Lords gave a guarded and reluctant assent,' he wrote.



Lord Hoffman claimed that most, if not all, of the law lords 'would think that... a purpose-built building would be far more suitable'.



The Lord Chancellor told the select committee that there were only two new-build sites within the one-mile radius of Parliament his department had decided to site the court in, and that no developer would take such a small job - a claim Andrew Tyrie MP said many would find 'absolutely astonishing'.



A Department for Constitutional Affairs (DCA) spokesman said in response that Westminster City Council had also 'expressed a desire' for the Supreme Court to be within its boundary. He said the DCA conducted a 'thorough' search for a suitable property based on the law lords' requirements and after 'close scrutiny' the Guildhall was chosen.



Rupert White