Conciliation Procedure

The London District Surveyors' Association has adopted the following Conciliation Procedure:

London District Surveyors Association
(Hereinafter referred to as "the Association")

Conciliation Procedure

This procedure is to be used when there is a technical disagreement between the applicant and a member authority of the Association where a formal application has been made, and where the parties have agreed to its use.

1. In the event of a technical dispute between an applicant and a member authority every effort should be made to resolve the issue at a local level.
   
2. If agreement cannot be reached, the applicant will inform the member authority that he or she wishes to use the conciliation procedure.
   
3. The member authority should arrange for the applicant to receive a pro forma on which to set out the issues of the dispute, and forward to the Secretary of the Association. In rare circumstances the Secretary may feel that the matter is inappropriate for the conciliation procedure e.g. deemed trivial, vexatious or better resolved by legal action. In such case the matter is to be referred to the President of the Association for a decision.
   
4. Upon receipt of the completed pro forma the Secretary will convene a panel of three members of the Association, (selected on a rotational basis) and second such other officers who possess particular knowledge pertinent to the dispute. Should the dispute relate to an expert area outside of the scope of the Association, then the panel may elect to commission a consultant to provide expert opinion, the costs to be borne by the Association. The panel will not contain any person from the member authority that is the party to the dispute.
   
5. Simultaneously the Secretary will contact the applicant and the local authority concerned, to ascertain whether or not they wish to have a summary hearing, that is based on written evidence only, without the parties being present, if agreed by both, or a full hearing with personal pleadings.
   
6. In either case the type, time, date and venue for the hearing is to be set and the parties will be invited to present:      relevant plans and documentation
   a statement setting out the issue in dispute
   a statement setting out their contentions
   any supporting evidence or expert opinion
   any informal ODPM comments
   
   to be provided seven days before the panel hearing, which is to be circulated to the panel members no less than five days before the hearing.
   
   The hearing is to take place within fifteen working days of receipt of the pro forma.
   
7. The Secretary will inform the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister, Building Regulations Division, (hereinafter referred to as "the ODPM") of the hearing.
   
8. Panel Procedure
   
   The applicant presents the issue and his or her contentions
   The local authority presents the issue and its contentions
   The panel questions the applicant
   The panel questions the local authority
   The panel is to decide if the services of expert witnesses are required
   Should an adjournment be required this should not exceed seven days.
   The developer has the opportunity to make any final comments
   The panel will retire to come to a recommendation
   The panel's recommendation will be made to the parties at the hearing or if further time is required are to issue a recommendation in writing within 48 hours
   
9. The panel's recommendation does not preclude the applicant from applying to the ODPM for determination in relation to plans conformity question, or to the Local Authority for a dispensation or relaxation.
   
10. The panel's decision will be copied to the ODPM

Notes

The following member Authorities are prepared to be morally bound to accept a recommendation under this procedure. (It is recognised that member authorities cannot be legally bound to this procedure)

London Borough of Barking & Dagenham
London Borough of Barnet
London Borough of Bexley
London Borough of Brent
London Borough of Bromley
London Borough of Camden
Corporation of London
London Borough of Croydon
London Borough of Ealing
London Borough of Enfield
London Borough of Greenwich
London Borough of Hackney
London Borough of Hammersmith & Fulham
London Borough of Haringey
London Borough of Harrow
London Borough of Havering
London Borough of Hillingdon
London Borough of Hounslow
London Borough of Islington
Royal Borough of Kensington & Chelsea
Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames
London Borough of Lambeth
London Borough of Merton
London Borough of Newham
London Borough of Redbridge
London Borough of Richmond upon Thames
London Borough of Southwark
London Borough of Sutton
London Borough of Tower Hamlets
London Borough of Waltham Forest
London Borough of Wandsworth

The following member Authorities are considering to be prepared to be morally bound to accept a recommendation under this procedure.

City of Westminster

The conciliation pro forma can be downloaded here by clicking on LDSA Conciliation Proforma.doc