By Mervyn Jess BBC Northern Ireland reporter

There are those who say there have been giant strides forward in the Drumcree issue in the past 12 months.

Equally, there are those who say it has not budged an inch.

As with all seemingly intractable problems, the reality probably lies somewhere in between.

"Drumcree nine" is looming and still no local accommodation has been reached.

Drumcree parade has been restricted for the sixth year

Speculation that something is going down behind the scenes usually makes the news pages in the days running up to the annual parade outside Portadown in County Armagh.

This year is no exception. A leaked document containing Portadown Orangemen's proposals for breaking the Drumcree deadlock dominated the week's news agenda.

In it, the district officers proposed face-to-face talks with the Garvaghy Road Residents' Coalition, including Breandan MacCionnaith, along with an Orange march along the Garvaghy Road.

The proposals were widely welcomed by unionist politicians and Protestant church leaders.

After the news broke, the Portadown District Lodge met again and the plan was given overwhelming support.

One Orangeman who was at the meeting described the vote as "unbelievable".

Given the animosity and outright hatred between elements in both sides of this long-running dispute, some think that word falls short as a description.

The Church of Ireland Primate, Archbishop Robin Eames, was more ecclesiastical and said it was "verging on a miracle".

However, the spokesman for the residents' group smelt a rat.

Breandan MacCionnaith said his read of the proposals was that any face-to face -talks were dependant on consent first being given for a parade.

Drumcree Church has been the scene of the protest

He said: "There is nothing in the proposals that hasn't been put forward in the past."

The residents' group are of the view that similar plans have been floated only to sink without trace.

Despite all this, the atmosphere in Portadown this month is markedly less oppressive.

Sectarian polarisation is nowhere near the level of previous "Drumcrees".

This is not to say that everything in the Garvaghy Road gardens is rosy and that every Orangeman is happy with his lot.

However, business people in the town say things are on the up and some of those involved over the years trying to develop a dialogue on Drumcree have been encouraged by the Orange proposals.

'Violent protest'

Portadown District Orange Lodge started going to services at Drumcree parish church on the outskirts of Portadown in 1807.

However, it has only been in the past nine years that the Orangemen's annual Battle of the Somme commemoration service has made headlines around the world.

The last time Orangemen paraded along the Garvaghy Road was in 1997.

In subsequent years, Drumcree has become synonymous with violent protest and angry confrontation.

The Portadown District comprises 32 separate Orange lodges with a membership of about 1,400.

A combination of history, tradition and to an extent a personal belief that they are in the vanguard of defending the Protestant faith, sets Portadown Orangemen apart from other members of the Order.

But for many nationalists, they represent little more than sectarian bigotry and Protestant "coat-trailing" personified.

A hundred years ago, when the lodges paraded back from Drumcree church to their Orange hall in the centre of Portadown, the contested Garvaghy Road section of the route was little more than a country lane.

In the late 60s and early 70s, the Ballyoran housing estate was built along the route and a population of approximately 6,000 people, most of whom are Catholics, lives there today.

With the changes in demography and the start of the peace process, came changes in the political climate.

When parades became an issue, nationalist and Catholic residents' groups sprang up in various parts of Northern Ireland.

Organised opposition to traditional "Protestant" parades through what were now mainly Catholic areas had begun.

Despite the history of confrontation in the Portadown area, the knock-on effect elsewhere has only been felt in more recent years.