The Portadown Orange Order has agreed to postpone its annual request to march home along the Garvaghy Road following a church service, pending the outcome of a judicial review into the Parades Commission’s decision to ban the return parade. The move was described as the most significant progress in the 27-year dispute.

At Drumcree on Sunday, Deputy District Master Nigel Dawson told supporters that the lodge had informed the High Court it would not seek to walk the contested route until Mr Justice McAlinden delivers a judgment, expected in August. Dawson said the decision allowed the judge time to complete his deliberations and to scrutinise the Commission.

The legal challenge, taken by a Portadown Orangeman, has raised questions about the Commission’s risk assessments, the implications of a recent European Court of Human Rights ruling, and whether those objecting to the parade are legitimate residents’ groups. During Friday’s emergency hearing, the court heard that the Commission’s latest determination to prohibit the return parade was not unanimous, a fact confirmed under oath by a Commission representative.

In an unusual step for a judicial review, the judge ordered the Commission’s representative to take the witness stand and be cross examined. The court also ordered full disclosure of the Commission’s decision-making records after it emerged that some deliberations were conducted via WhatsApp.

Jamie Bryson, a member of the Orangeman’s legal team, stated that the level of scrutiny now applied to the Commission was unprecedented and that the continued ban on the traditional route was legally unsustainable. He noted the Commission’s split decision was made public for the first time.

DUP MP Carla Lockhart said she stood with the Portadown brethren and welcomed the day’s events as a significant step. She argued that a shared future required mutual respect, including tolerance for Orangemen returning home peacefully from a church service.

The annual Drumcree parade on Sunday saw Orangemen and bands parade through Portadown town centre to the church at Drumcree, maintaining a practice that has continued despite the return route being barred since 1998. The Portadown District LOL No.1 has repeatedly sought dialogue with residents of the Garvaghy Road, but says those approaches have been rejected.

The Orange Order hopes the forthcoming judgment will resolve the impasse that has persisted for nearly three decades.