The Role of Mediation in the Settlement of Planning Disputes at Appeal: The Debate and Research Agenda

Barry Pearce and Michael Stubbs
Additional contact information
Barry Pearce: Department of Land Economy, University of Cambridge, 19 Silver Street, Cambridge CB3 9EP, England
Michael Stubbs: Department of Geography, Oxford Brookes University, Gipsy Lane Campus, Headington, Oxford OX3 0BP, England

Environment and Planning A, 2000, vol. 32, issue 8, 1335-1358

Abstract: Mediation has now been canvassed for use in the settlement of planning disputes. But does mediation have a role to play here? In the literature on alternative dispute resolution some authors have argued that there are general rules for deciding which types of dispute would be suitable for mediation and which would not. The rule of ‘presumptive mediation’ has been advocated; that as long as certain conditions are satisfied, mediation should be the first procedure used. If mediation is not successful, the mediator can then make an informed recommendation for a different procedure. But is the utility of mediation so ubiquitous? Is the rule of presumptive mediation appropriate, even safe, in all circumstances? We investigate the role of mediation in one particular field of dispute resolution, where the circumstances are, on the face of it, markedly different to the ‘normal’ situation for which mediation has been used and proved successful; where the disputes concern specific proposals for the development of land and, in particular, where the dispute is between local planning authorities, private developers, and community groups. We attempt to analyse the conditions under which mediation may serve a useful function in this particular field of dispute resolution and investigate how ‘fitting the forum to the fuss’ may be dealt with in relation to the specific circumstances and context of so-called planning disputes.

Date: 2000
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1068/a3289 (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:sae:envira:v:32:y:2000:i:8:p:1335-1358

DOI: 10.1068/a3289

Access Statistics for this article

More articles in Environment and Planning A
Bibliographic data for series maintained by SAGE Publications ().