The controversy surrounding neighbourhood justice schemes in Northern Ireland deepened tonight over claims that representatives tried to overthrow a planning decision.
SDLP's Alex Attwood alleged they went beyond their role to intervene in a row over a rejected application.
He said: "That sends out a very bad message that whatever the state might decide you can go round the corner to community restorative justice and they might get a different answer for you.
His allegations came amid growing pressure on the Government to resist funding any schemes suspected of being an alternative police service.
The restorative justice policy centres around bringing together victims and perpetrators in a bid to agree how crimes will be paid for.
Mr Attwood, a representative on Northern Ireland's Policing Board, would not disclose full details on the case he was referring to. But it is believed to centre on an incident in west Belfast earlier this year.
He claimed planning permission was refused at an unidentified address after opposition from people in the area. The case was then referred to community restorative justice representatives who interpreted it as a neighbourhood dispute and contacted those who objected, he said.
"Restorative justice has no role or interest in matters that have been resolved by the Planning Service," Mr Attwood said.
However, his claims were rejected by Jim Auld, Project Director of Community Restorative Justice Ireland.
Although he declined to comment on the particular case for confidentiality reasons, Mr Auld said: "He's got the whole wrong end of the stick and I would like to be in a position to talk about it because I could embarrass him.
"People come into this office when they fall out with their neighbours and they don't feel they can go face to face to talk something out because they are afraid of violence. "We do try to resolve conflict between neighbours over what has caused the issue, but I don't want to give any indication it's specifically around any one issue.
"There's something obscene about Alex Attwood talking about this generally when he knows I can't respond because of confidentiality."
PA