Marching body could be replaced

An independent review of how the Parades Commission operates is to recommend it is replaced by a number of different panels, the BBC understands.

It is thought it favours splitting the processes of mediation and ruling when a dispute cannot be resolved.

March organisers will be asked to give notice to their local district council 35 days before their planned event.

If mediation failed, the dispute would be referred to a three-strong panel appointed by the OFMDFM.

The panel would hold a hearing 15 days before a march and base their judgments on human rights, standards of behaviour and the applicant's past behaviour.

Rules on marches could involve no alcohol, no paramilitary trappings, no marching after 11pm and the provision of one steward to every 50 people.

A seven-strong team led by Lord Ashdown has been examining the commission's work for the past year.

The review team hopes the new structures would foster local dialogue and help to prevent parading being a political battlefield.

The current Parades Commission was set up in 1997 to make decisions on whether controversial parades should be restricted.

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