Chaos caused by the December floods proves that West Cumbria needs its own court, Workington MP Sue Hayman has said.

Mrs Hayman has written to Secretary of State Michael Gove to point out that Carlisle's magistrates court was unusable because of flooding there recently.

She said: "It shows that you can't guarantee a court at Carlisle, and that would leave Cumbria with only the court in Barrow which is completely unworkable."

A 3,000-name petition against proposed closure of the West Cumbria magistrates and county court building, at Workington's Ramsay Brow, was sent to the Government in October.

Mrs Hayman, who spearheaded the campaign with the Times & Star, said the floods had proved the point.

The enforced closure of the Carlisle building due to flooding would have left the whole north and west of the county without any court provision if proposed closure at Workington had gone ahead by now.

It is among 91 across England and Wales earmarked for closure by the Government because they are said to be under-used.

It means that people, including witnesses and victims, would have to travel either to Carlisle or Barrow for court appearances.

Mrs Hayman said: "The proposal was because they gave the impression the Government thought you could go up and down between Workington, Whitehaven and Carlisle pretty easily.

"The travel times didn't meet what the Government's standards were because of the poor quality of roads and the challenging weather we have.

"The floods really illustrated the points we were trying to get over.

"I was told we might hear sometime this month so I thought it was important to write to the minister to say that those points are more important than ever because of what's happened.

"The damage to the roads and the longer time people would spend travelling show that Cumbria has got to be looked at differently to other areas.

"The police were concerned because of the amount of time they'd be travelling too.

"I'm hopeful of getting some news this month but whether or not we've managed to save the court is very difficult to say because despite the fact we have a very strong case. Clearly this Government wants to save money."

Gail Inglis, chairman of the magistrates’ North and West Cumbria Bench, has been actively involved in the campaign against the planned closure.

She said: "I would have thought that the best way to make any decision is to come and see what's involved and we'd certainly welcome if Mr Gove came to visit.

"People don't realise that West Cumbria is almost a little county on its own.

"It's all well and good for them to say we've got a motorway in the M6 but that doesn't help people in West Cumbria at all.

"We'd all welcome somebody like Mr Gove looking around our area because that's not just us putting things on paper but actually demonstrating where the problems lie."

Celia Tibble, chairman of Cumbria’s Police and Crime Panel, said: "It's a vital service. The courts in Workington are very important because it's not just offenders that use them but families and victims too.

"Having to travel makes their ordeal even worse. We found during the floods that we were isolated at times which meant that court business couldn't go ahead.

"That increased cost for the police and the criminal justice system and increased anxiety and stress for those people attending court and their families.

"It's unfortunate that none of the government ministers actually bothered to try and come into West Cumbria because I don't think they realise that we're isolated.

"The Government, and Mr Gove in particular, need to come and see what 30 miles in West Cumbria is, not just look on the map."