Defendants will find themselves in the dock at crown court faster as law chiefs sweep away committal hearings at magistrates' courts.
Taunton, Somerset, has been selected as one of 29 areas in England and Wales to drop the hearings used to send cases up to the crown court.
Other magistrates' courts – including Plymouth, Exeter, Bodmin and Truro – will phase the hearings out over the next year, in line with all other in the two countries.
Scrapping hearings will free-up the lower court to run more efficiently, according to government ministers who are keen to speed-up the judicial process and save money.
In June the hearings were dropped in four other areas.
Criminal Justice Minister Damian Green said nationally, the changes will mean that around 60,000 fewer hearings will be needed each year.
He said: "Abolishing committal hearings is another one of the steps we are taking to make justice swift and sure, and to ensure our courts run efficiently and effectively for victims, witnesses and the taxpayers whose money funds them.
"The justice system needs continued improvement, and this announcement is an important step forward."
Other changes to make the court process faster include flexible court operating hours during evenings and weekends in almost 50 areas.
Video links between courts, prisons and police stations are also being used with greater frequency, avoiding the need for defendants to appear in the dock in person thereby saving time and money.
Committal hearings for cases that are so serious they can only be dealt with at crown court, such as murder and rape, were abolished in 2001.
The current changes get rid of committal hearings for so-called "either-way" offences, which can be dealt with either at the magistrates' or crown court, depending on the seriousness of the individual case.
Cases will now be sent to the higher court as soon as it is clear the matter is serious enough, without the need for a separate committal hearing.
Michael Jones, chairman of the Criminal Law Solicitors' Association, said he feared the changes could backfire and hamper the judicial process.
He said: "I do have concerns that the sending procedure for either-way offences may result in delays in the crown court while evidence is served, and I would not like to see this becoming a case of 'more haste, less speed'."
