Let's talk

Would you ask your neighbour to turn the music down? Late night, someone you don't  know very well, maybe some alcohol involved ... but you can't sleep for the racket and you're getting increasingly angry ...
What happens next? You go up and bang the door and get a mouthful of abuse and no result. You call the police and suddenly your neighbour is your worst enemy. Sometimes a polite request actually works and the neighbour turns down the noise. But however you do it, it's a potential confrontation and these things can get out of hand.
By the time the Council's anti social team gets involved, things have already gone just a wee bit too far. Threats of eviction or ASBOs may stop the noise, but resentment simmers. Instead of a community of neighbours who help each other, your close or your back lane becomes hostile territory. You may fear assault or a verbal tongue lashing. It spoils your life.
So the team is going to try a new tactic. Mediation is not new, but many people involved in noisy neighbour disputes do not understand what it is and do not imagine it could ever work. I think people also fear having to climb down from the entrenched positions they have adopted ... just like politicians. And there's the basic fear factor of confronting someone who may be violent or abusive. As things stand, if people won't go for mediation, the anti social behaviour team won't spend too much time trying to persuade them.
But for a pilot period, the ASB team will spend time with the people on both sides of a noise complaint, explain mediation to them and make it clear that they must at least try this sensible way of resolving a dispute before expecting the council to start swinging legal sledgehammers.
The service is free and the mediators are very skilled at finding common ground, then bringing people together to discuss the problem in a civilised way.
Will it work? I'm sure it will, in many cases, but not in every case. For example, where there is a real threat of violence the most sensible thing to do is bring in the police. But if we can get people talking, we're far more likely to solve problems successfully - and permanently - and probably save ourselves, the police and the courts endless hours of time on disputes which neighbours could resolve themselves, under the guidance of experienced mediators.