From now on, the residents of the Castilian-La Mancha town of La Solana will be able to resolve their conflicts and problems arising in coexistence through a new mediation service in neighborhood conflicts, in which an impartial professional (the mediator) will try to facilitate the parties involved in reaching an agreement on the issue facing them.
This initiative, which is presented under the 'Convive' project, has been launched by the La Solana City Council together with the collaboration of the Crea Mediación Association, and is financed by the Castilla-La Mancha Communities Board.
The group that launched this project is made up of mediators with legal training, whose objective is to improve coexistence and neighborhood relations through mediation, solving conflicts between the neighbors involved before the problems become entrenched and worsen over time. In addition, one of the project workers, Carmen Daimiel, defends the need for the Social Services area to refer cases to mediation so that it is implemented effectively.
How does this neighborhood mediation system work?
According to the president of Crea Mediación, the action protocol is the following:
- The Social Services Center detects neighborhood conflict and refers it to the mediation association.
- The association contacts the parties and explains to them what the mediation process consists of.
- The parties, once informed, decide if they want to voluntarily participate in the procedure.
The purpose of neighborhood mediation is for the opposing parties to reach an agreement. consensus proposed by themselves, and that later sign an act where the commitments acquired are reflected.
The most common and recurring topics in neighborhood mediation are cases related to pets, empty houses or noise, garbage containers, dog droppings, etc.
La Solana thus becomes the fifth municipality in the province of Ciudad Real that has this neighborhood mediation system, betting on alternative forms to ordinary judicial means for the resolution of community problems between neighbors.
For now, The service will continue to be operational until December 31, 2017, date on which co-financing by the regional government would end.
