Training in resolving neighbourly disputes
1:46pm Tuesday 5th August 2008
Two world-class mediators are flying to the district to teach people how to help resolve neighbourly disputes.
Community Accord, a voluntary mediation service, has hired Jon Townsend and Stan Sitnick from the US to provide a training course for those interested in helping people resolve arguments over issues like the height of a hedge or the volume of a sound system.
The organisation is searching for volunteers in Keighley and across the Bradford district to come onboard and experience the five-day mediation training course, from September 15-19.
Olau Thomassen, managing director of Community Accord, said the most common disputes occurred over issues such as noise, parking, boundaries and the height of hedges.
He said: "For me, I would say that most disputes happen because people don't know each other too well any more. If you don't know the person you live next door to, you don't know how what you might be doing may impact on their quality of life.
"People don't know them so they don't know they are upsetting them, and the other person thinks well I do not know him' and so doesn't say anything and then it all reaches a boiling point.
"Eighty-six per cent of the time the people we bring together come away with an agreement.
"We retain 90 per cent of the people that come and train as mediators with us and work for a year. People really enjoy the relationships they build with other mediators and the people they are helping.
"I have done training myself but Stan and Jon are two of the best I have ever seen."
Community Accord will ask volunteers to complete the five-day training course - at the Carlisle Business Centre in Bradford - and work with it for a year, giving up three hours a week to help people resolve disputes across the district.
The deadline for applying for the volunteer mediation programme is next Friday (August 15).
Anyone interested should contact programme development manager Lorraine Knott on 01274 431190 or bca@post.com, or apply online at www.communityaccord.com.