CALLS have been made to save Brecon's combined courts building after it was placed on a closure list.

Justice Secretary Michael Gove intends closing Brecon Law Courts along with 10 other courts and a tribunal centre across Wales.

Brecon and Radnorshire Conservative MP Chris Davies has said he will 'make the case' for keeping Brecon Court open but understood why its closure is being proposed while the constituency's Welsh Assembly Member said she was opposed to its closure.

Welsh Liberal Democrat leader Kirsty Williams said local people need to convince the Conservative government closure is 'not right for this area'.

The Dyfed Powys Police and Crime Commissioner, Christopher Salmon has suggested he could keep the court open if its funding was devolved to him, while Plaid Cymru has again called for the Welsh Government to take responsibility for policing and justice.

The Westminster government says the 21-year-old building, which was redeveloped in 2004 to accommodate the magistrates court, is in use just 16 per cent of the time, typically sitting no more than three days a week and its operating cost in 2014/15 were £164,000.

The Cambrian Way court, which is just a stone's throw from the Powys divisional headquarters of Dyfed Powys Police, holds magistrates sittings as well as family and civil court hearings.

The court also regularly holds coroner's inquests but the Ministry of Justice's consultation paper has made no mention of this.

Should the court close cases would be transferred to Llandrindod Wells Justice Centre, which opened in 2012, and the combined court at Merthyr Tydfil. Criminal cases from the Ystradgynlais area would be heard in Swansea.

The consultation runs until Thursday, October 8.