Cathy Jamieson, the former justice minister, has criticised the Scottish Government�s decision to ditch plans for Scotland�s first community court, which has been proven to work in the US.

Cathy Jamieson, the former justice minister, has criticised the Scottish Government's decision to ditch plans for Scotland's first community court, which has been proven to work in the US.

The Herald can reveal that the government paid consultants more than £15,000 in March for producing a detailed business plan for the court which strongly recommended ministers should go ahead with the project.

However, last week ministers and Glasgow City Council decided not to go ahead with the project on cost grounds.

The community court was expected to cost £3.73m to build. Running costs for the first five years of operation were expected to be £4.2m.

While it was always predicted to be expensive, it was also expected to be successful in curbing re-offending.

The previously unseen report said the court would achieve several goals. These included increasing community safety by contributing to crime reduction; improving community involvement in the justice system and improving effectiveness of local justice by reducing re-offending rates.

Writing in The Herald today, Ms Jamieson questions why a project that has been proven to work in the US, and which has already seen considerable investment, has been shelved.

"This is such a missed opportunity," she says. "This was to be the flagship to be rolled out across Scotland. It was a spend-to-save initiative and in the US it has been enormously successful. It was also meant to be part of the regeneration of Glasgow's east end.

"Everyone knew we needed to revamp community service and this was the ideal way to do it. It was about fast effective justice - delivered locally and community-led."

The aim was to create a court based on the Red Hook Community Justice Centre in New York, which is known as the court of second chances.

It is a one-stop shop housing drug treatment services, domestic violence counselling, job training and a medical unit - all available to victims and offenders. It also includes a youth court, where teenagers can judge their peers.

Offenders start their community service within 24 hours rather than waiting 12 weeks - as is the case in parts of Scotland.

Initial studies indicate it has reduced crime in what was once one of the most dangerous areas of New York. The percentage of residents who say they are afraid to go to parks or the subway dropped from 77% to 33%.

Parliamentary questions raised by Labour revealed that Glasgow City Council was fully funded for the provision of administrative support to the project lead at a cost of £7,078.02. This amount was also paid in March.

In addition to the costs of Scottish Government officials working on the Community Justice Centre project, £15,525 was paid in March to Ridgeway Consultants, who were commissioned to produce a detailed business plan for the project.

A working group made up of sheriffs, procurators-fiscal, police and officials had been developing the plan since 2006.

The group was established under the previous Scottish Executive and was backed by Steven Purcell, the leader of Glasgow City Council.

It continued to meet under the new government, and it was thought ministers were keen on the idea.