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I don't really talk to my neighbours. Years of mediating between people arguing over noise, fences, and parking has made me realise that sometimes the best option is just to steer clear.

But – perhaps because it was the New Year – one morning a couple of weeks ago, I took the initiative to talk to a man who recently moved in across the road from me. He seemed pleasant enough and, after a couple of minutes chatting, I agreed to give him a lift to the post office.

During the journey, he told me he was being asked to be a candidate in the next council elections, but didn't want to say for which party as it was a "little controversial". Well, with the BNP coming third in Stoke-on-Trent's recent mayoral elections, his attempt at secrecy was quite pointless.

I can't abide the BNP. Being half-Greek, I was often racially abused as a child, and was once chased through the streets of Reading by the BNP – one of the most frightening experiences of my life. However, the thought of the headline "Mediator throws racist from moving car" made sure that he got to the post office in one piece.

A week or so later, Calderdale Borough Council's Mixenden ward voted in a BNP candidate. Yet another milestone in a sequence of events that started with the race riots in the summer of 2001.

With the press and television full of labelling, stereotyping and dehumanising language – "asylum seekers", "religious extremists", and the tiresome and almost meaningless phrase "weapons of mass destruction" – I can't see how this latest event will be the last.

We all know how the BNP is latching onto the perceived failure of national immigration policies to gather new supporters, and there are plenty of examples of local issues, such as housing standards, that are cited as a primary cause of the dissatisfaction of the electorate.

But the facts don't really give credence to the levels of fear displayed by some. So many of the supporters of "New BNP" talk about problems being caused by the vast numbers of asylum-seekers in their communities – yet The Times revealed recently that, among Calderdale's 290,000 residents, there are only 133. Furthermore, in the specific ward in question, there are apparently only 12.

It is possible one of your colleagues voted for the BNP. In the interest of community cohesion, should you talk to them, ignore them or throw them from a moving car?

I initially hoped that my research for this article would reveal further clear-cut statistics that would easily refute the populist perception of what is actually going on with immigration to this country. But despite the amount of information that is out there, I soon realised that the arguments promoted by those voting BNP are not ones that would evaporate in the face of some well-presented sums.

Also, when the facts of the matter are put into perspective it becomes very easy to dismiss BNP supporters as poor, misguided people – but is that the best way to combat this development in our society?

When Oldham's race cohesion work was recently criticised, the chief executive of First Choice Homes Oldham wrote to Housing Today (12 December 2002, page 22) to say that "tremendous inroads" had been made on local community cohesion issues. He did indeed cite some very important and positive progress, but quoting percentages of lettings to, and recruitment from, black and minority ethnic communities is not going to help fight the rising tide of support for far-right politics.

In a recent article in this magazine (23 January, pages 24-26), the community cohesion plan from Burnley (where three other BNP councillors were elected last year) was quoted: "[Community cohesion is] a state where different communities live and work confidently alongside each other, recognising each other's differences, but sharing a sense of belonging and place, and working towards a common prosperity."

As a private citizen, I may be free to choose not to talk to my neighbours – especially those I associate with racism, bigotry and intolerance. But do I have that choice in my professional life?

Now, I am in no way advocating a tolerance of intolerance but, as a mediator, I do recognise the need to develop a dialogue with those we are in disagreement with in order to discover what common ground, or "prosperity", there is to be worked towards.

For me, the place to start may well be in taking the skills of my organisation into the local forums that are looking at tackling this political evolution. Or, it might mean I have to control my revulsion and cross the road to open a dialogue with my neighbour.