THE bear facts have been revealed - and Preston's Panda looks to be going from strength to strength.

The Preston Area Neighbour Dispute Action (Panda) celebrated its second birthday with results to show its increasing success.

More than 500 neighbours in dispute in Preston have now been helped by the free community mediation service.

The vast majority of cases referred to Panda are involved with harassment. Problems with children, ball games and music are the other main problems brought before the service.

Charlotte Carlish, project co-ordinator, said: "Our success is due to many factors, not least the hard commitment of the volunteer mediators without whom there would be no service.

"Their professionalism and belief in mediation has made Panda an extremely successful mediation service.

"We would like to thank our funders for their continued support."

Bill Hayhurst from Preston Borough Council's environmental health department, added: "For the past two years, Panda has been a major success story in Preston.

"The service is a great help to the council, especially in the way it frees staff to get on with mainstream duties."

And Inspector Michael Whitehead of Preston police's community support division was quick to give his praise on the service.

He said: "There is nearly always a positive and definite decrease in repeat calls after Panda's intervention - we had 34 calls to one dispute, Panda got involved and brought it down to zero.

"The mediators have the necessary skills and, most of all, the time to deal with disputes that fall within their remit."

Panda needs volunteer mediators to help sort out neighbour disputes in the Preston area - for more information call 01772-558978.

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