Where positions diverge,
agreement is still reachable.
Vesper Mediation is an independent mediation practice. Through a dedicated partnership with the LGRC, that practice extends into local government — helping councillors, officers and authorities resolve disputes without them going any further.
Local government disputes
Referred through the LGRC partnership. Each case is treated as its own, not as a category.
Member conduct & councillor–councillor disputes
Breakdowns in working relationships between elected members, or standards complaints better resolved through mediation than a formal hearing.
Councillor–officer relationships
Tension between elected members and permanent staff — often around governance, workload, or conduct — before it affects the wider organisation.
Planning, licensing & community disputes
Disputes between an authority and residents, developers or community groups, where an ongoing relationship needs to survive the disagreement.
Governance & partnership disputes
Friction between authorities, joint committees, or delivery partners working under a shared governance arrangement.
Why this isn't standard HR mediation.
Local government runs on its own legal architecture — and it changes what mediation can actually achieve.
Councillors aren't employees
The council is the employer — not any individual member. But councillors appoint, supervise and sit in judgement of officers while remaining entirely outside the employment relationship themselves. A generalist HR mediator treats everyone in the room as if they're on the same footing. They aren't.
Conduct runs through the Standards Regime
A concern about a councillor's behaviour doesn't go through HR — it goes through the statutory Code of Conduct process, run by a Monitoring Officer, under entirely different rules. Case law confirms a council can't discipline a member through its own grievance procedure, even where the conduct would be a straightforward HR matter anywhere else.
No sanctions, no dismissal
In England there's currently no power to suspend a councillor found to have breached the code — and none to remove them from office. They're elected, not employed. A mediator expecting the usual workplace levers — warnings, dismissal, reassignment — will misjudge the situation from the outset.
From referral to resolution.
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Item 2.1
Referral
The LGRC receives the request and makes the introduction to Vesper Mediation.
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Item 2.2
Preparation
Private conversations with each party to understand the issues and agree ground rules.
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Item 2.3
Joint session
A structured, confidential meeting to work through the issues — in person or online.
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Item 2.4
Outcome
A workable agreement, recorded in the parties' own words and owned by them.
Francesca Pridding
BA (Hons) Law, LLM, PgDip, CiLCA
I've spent over a decade as a troubleshooting CEO, Town Clerk and Responsible Financial Officer, called in to run town and community councils across England and Wales. That's given me an extremely diverse range of situations to work with, from routine governance to councils in real difficulty — but the thing that actually shapes how I mediate is understanding the regulatory framework a council has to operate within. I know where the legal boundaries genuinely sit, and where a dispute has room to move inside them. I'm an accredited mediator with Align Mediation.
I founded the Community Clerks' Network, now connecting over 2,400 town clerks across more than 4,000 town and community councils, and I'm a member of the Agricultural Lawyers Association.
Why this page sits here
Vesper Mediation works in partnership with the LGRC to provide mediation for disputes arising in local government. Enquiries for this work are handled through the LGRC referral process below, so cases reach the right people from the outset.
Straightforward, agreed upfront.
Start a conversation.
Enquiries come straight to me. Let me know it's a local government matter and I'll bring the LGRC in as part of the process.
