Fresh attempts by the British Prime Minister to broker a compromise on the disputed Drum cree march have received a mixed reaction in Portadown.
Mr Blair's chief of staff, Mr Jonathan Powell, who will chair the talks, is expected to arrive in the North within days. The Portadown Orangemen and the Garvaghy Road Residents' Coalition last night received an outline of the proposed structure of the talks.
A spokesman for the Portadown Orange Lodge, Mr David Jones, has said it is preferable for the situation to be resolved now rather than "the eleventh hour", but stressed lodge members were not prepared to engage in direct talks with the nationalist residents.
The precise venue and timetable of the talks have yet to be announced but any negotiations will take the form of "proximity" negotiations due to the Orangemen's refusal to meet the residents.
"We're not interested in getting involved in long-protracted talks. They would not be necessary because Mr Blair already has a very good understanding of the situation," Mr Jones said.
"We have always felt, even from last year, that the sooner the matter could be dealt with the better. There's no point in leaving these things until the eleventh hour because then people tend to become quite annoyed, quite frustrated."
He added the resolution of the impasse lay with the residents on the Garvaghy Road, "but I'm no more hopeful of a resolution now than I was at any attempt before."
Mr Sean Dunbar, of the residents' coalition, said most of the community representatives had gone on holiday and would not be available for talks this week. It would be next week before the delegation met Mr Powell, he added. There was "nothing dramatic" in the fax outlining issues to be discussed in detail at the talks, he said.
Mr Dunbar added that the first contact made by the British government with the residents in relation to the negotiations had been the arrival of the fax last night.
The SDLP Assembly member for Upper Bann, Ms Brid Rodgers, welcomed the renewed drive for a settlement but stressed that any accommodation must be arrived at through mutual respect and inclusive dialogue.
"Talks must be face-to-face, they must be genuine and sustained, and they must be carried out in the context of no extra protests or parades," she said.
She added that the issue was not about getting a parade down the road but rather about establishing proper relations within a very divided community.
"Proper relations based on respect and equality can only be arrived at by talking to each other. No amount of meetings with the Prime Minister can address or resolve the fundamental need to build understanding and reach accommodation."
The SDLP Mayor of Craigavon, Ms Dolores Kelly, said renewed talks were "good news" so soon after a ban was placed on this year's Orange parade at Drumcree by the Parades Commission.
However, the proximity talks format has been criticised by Ms Dara O'Hagan, a Sinn Fein Assembly member for Upper Bann, who said the residents wished to be treated as equals. "That's why they want direct dialogue and why they have serious doubts about the proximity talks format."
On Sunday a Downing Street spokesman said the current attempt to reach an accommodation reflected Mr Blair's determination to find a solution to the impasse. The annual July 4th demonstration by the Portadown Orangemen passed off peacefully in the town this year.