Controversial plans for five new asylum appeal courts have been given the go-ahead by the government.

New asylum courts

Manchester Bradford Stoke-on-Trent North Shields Newport

The centres are designed to speed up the time it takes to deal with asylum applications.

The government is battling to deal with a growing backlog of applications from people wanting to stay in the UK.

The court centres will be sited in Manchester, Bradford, Stoke on Trent, North Shields and at Newport in South Wales.

But the new courts, which can hear up to four cases a day, have been criticised by immigration and civil liberties campaigners for denying asylum seekers facing deportation the right to the full judicial process.

Residents' anger

The plans have also provoked controversy among local residents.

People living near the proposed court in Newport are angry that the Home Office has by-passed normal planning procedures to get the centre built in time.

Building work has already started on converting Columbus House, Langstone Business Park, on the outskirts of Newport, into an asylum court.

Although the Crown will have to consult the local authority, the council does not have the power to stop the centre being built.

'Back door'

Councillor David Atwell said: "People are very angry that the crown - who are responsible for the centre - have special powers to enable them to do things like this without permission of the local authority.

"I think they (the crown) have not only gone through the back door but they have gone under the bottom of the gap of the back door.

"It is quite surprising how little was known about this from the Welsh Assembly all the way down through to our local council."

The Newport court will have eight courtrooms and will begin hearing cases in early December.

'Good location'

Work has also started on fitting out Piccadilly Exchange, in Manchester's Piccadily Gardens, which will have 12 courtrooms. Hearings are expected to start in March 2003.

Bradford's asylum court, at Phoenix House, Thornbury, on the Leeds/Bradford border, will also house 12 courtrooms and begin operating in March 2003.

The Immigration Appellate Authority, which will operate the centres, said it chose Bradford for its "good location" and transport links.

The centre at Royal Quays, in North Shields, will house 10 courtrooms and will begin work in March 2003.

Work on fitting out the centre at Hanley, on the outskirts of Stoke-on-Trent, is almost complete and the centre will start operating in early December.

'Record numbers'

Ministers want to increase the number of appeals dealt with every month from 4,500 to 6,000.

The Lord Chancellor's department says existing centres in Birmingham and Hatton Cross will be expanded, and a second administrative office will open in Leicester to support the nearby office in Loughborough.

Unveiling the plan, Baroness Scotland, a minister at the Lord Chancellor's Department, said "record numbers" of cases were being dealth with by the Immigration Appellate Authority (IAA).

She said IAA adjudicators dealt with 75% more appeals in 2001/2 than they in the previous financial year.

"This increase in determinations reflects the IAA's ability to handle increasing numbers of appeals.

"However, further expansion is necessary to enable the Authority both to increase the number of asylum appeals it deals with from the current 4,500 appeals per month to 6,000 cases per month from November and deal with these appeals in a timely manner.

"These additional new hearing centres will play an important role in achieving this goal."