Tidmarsh with Sulham Parish Council is seeking to appoint a Clerk and RFO from September 2022 or as soon as possible thereafter. The role is home-based, for 28 hours a month to be worked flexibly as required.

Tidmarsh with Sulham Parish Council covers two small parishes with a combined population of about 500 people with an annual budget precept of £9,100. Its main asset is an open space incorporating a play area. The open space is owned by a trust and the Council is the sole corporate trustee.

The Council comprises of six Councillors (five for Tidmarsh, one for Sulham) who meet monthly on the second Wednesday of each month in Tidmarsh Village Hall.

The salary will be negotiated depending upon experience, ILCA or CiLCA qualification and transferable skills. It is expected to be in the range LC1, SCP 13-17, (£11.97 – £12.95 per hour) reviewable annually.

A parish council laptop will be provided. In addition, the Council pays £26 per month as an allowance to cover the expenses of working from home, to cover electricity, heating, lighting, telephone and internet. Mileage to meetings is not paid.

The right candidate will need to have the ability to deal with a range of issues, have excellent finance knowledge, strong interpersonal, communication and administration skills and be able to work independently on normal council business as well as with councillors to progress council projects. The successful candidate will play an integral role in serving the parishioners of Tidmarsh and Sulham, and will be responsible to the parish council as a corporate body.

For an informal conversation please contact the present Clerk, Jennie Currie, by emailing clerk@tidmarshwithsulham.co.uk or telephone 01635 580 190.

Deadline for applications: Sunday 21^st August 2022

Provisional interview date: Wednesday 24^th August 2022

Community led housing is a growing movement led by ordinary people who are passionate about creating high quality, affordable housing in their communities. These community-led schemes involve extensive consultation to understand local housing need and lead to assets that are owned and/or managed by the community. The homes created can be for occupation by specific groups of people or to meet general affordable housing need in the community and are protected as affordable housing in perpetuity.

There are different models of community-led housing and the definitions can be found on the Collaborative Housing Website. Community Led Homes, a partnership between the Confederation of Co-operative housing, Locality, the National Community Land Trust Network and UK Cohousing, share examples of housing schemes on their website.

The benefits of community led housing are many. This list is taken from the website of the Communities Housing Trust that supports the creation of community-led housing in Scotland:

• It provides additional supply of homes that would not be available through mainstream housing delivery;
• Generates community support for new homes;
• Helps diversify the house building types and tenure options in communities;
• Assists the local economy and trades provision;
• Empowers and builds capacity within community groups and sets a positive example to others;
• Helps to attract financial investment to communities;
• Improves spaces and the built environment;
• Provides choice for older people needing age appropriate housing;
• Gives younger people an opportunity to realise their housing ambitions;
• Supports sustainable and economically vibrant communities;
• Helps people afford to rent, buy or build their own homes;
• Supports an innovative approach to partnership working and to providing solutions;
• It can support social and economic growth in the community.

In September 2022, CCB will be holding a training event to share examples of community-led housing schemes and to answer your questions about where to start. The event will be of interest to town and parish councils, neighbourhood planning groups and anyone with an interest in affordable housing for their community. To register your interest, please contact Tim Parry at CCB.  

We all know that winter is the time when we usually have to look at our energy consumption the most but, as our summer warms up* in the UK due to climate change, we need to stop and think about how we can be energy efficient in the summer too.

This week has seen our first red alert for a heatwave triggered and no doubt most of us have been trying to think of ways to keep a cool head at home. The Centre of Sustainable Energy informs us that it helps us to focus on the things that we use the most, and so costs you the most money. Every electrical appliance has a power rating which tells you how much electricity it needs to work. This is usually given in watts or kilowatts (kW) (1000W = 1KW). Of course, the amount of electricity it uses depends non how long it’s on and this is measured in kilowatt-hours (kWh). Below is a handy table produced by CSE of the biggest drain on energies in your households although unfortunately, it doesn’t show fans and air conditioning units.

Appliance	Average power rating (Watts)	Cost to use per hour (pence)*	Cost to use per 10 mins (pence)*
Electric shower	7000–10500	175-262	29–44
Immersion heater	3000	75	12.5
Kettle	3000	75	12.5
Tumble Dryer	2000-3000	50–75	8.0–12.5
Electric fire	2000–3000	50–75	8.0–12.5
Oven	2000-2200	50–55	8.0–9.0
Hairdryer	2000	50	8
Oil-filled radiator	1500-2500	37–62	6–10
Washing machine	1200-3000	30–75	5.0–12.5
Dishwasher	1050–1500	26–37	4.5–6.0
Grill/hob	1000-2000	25–50	4.0–8.5
Iron	1000-1800	25–45	4.0–4.5
Electric drill	900-1000	22.5–25.0	3.7–4.0
Toaster	800-1500	20–37.5	3.3–6.2
Microwave	600-1500	15.0–37.5	2.5–6.2
Electric mower	500-1800	12.5–45.0	2.1–7.5
Vacuum cleaner	500-1200	12.5–30.0	2.0–5.0
Dehumidifier	300-700	7.5–17.5	1.2–2.8
Plasma TV	280-450	7.0–11.0	1.2–1.8
Towel rail	250-500	6.0–12.5	1.0–2.2
Fridge-freezer	200-400	5–10	0.8–1.6
Freezer	150	4	0.6
Heating blanket	130-200	3–5	0.5–0.8
LCD TV	125-200	3–5	0.5–0.8
Desktop computer	80-200	2–5	0.3–0.8
Games console	45-190	1–5	0.2–0.8
Fridge	40-120	1–3	~ 0.3
TV box	30-40	0.7–1.0	~ 0.1
Laptop	20-65	0.5–1.6	~ 0.1
Video/DVD/CD	20-60	0.5–1.6	~ 0.1
Tablet (charge)	10	0.2	<0.1
Broadband router	7-10	0.2	<0.1
Extractor fan	5-36	0.2–0.9	<0.1
Smart phone (charge)	2.5-5.0	<0.2	<0.1

*All calculations are based on an assumed unit rate of £0.25p per kWh (at the upper-end of normal range in Jan 2022) and rounded up or down to the nearest 0.5p or 0.1p as appropriate

There is no doubt that air conditioning and multiple fans running are a drain on your home energy and can cause your bills to shoot up. We found a few tops tips from EDF Energy that we can all do in our homes to keep cool and save energy;

• Open windows throughout your home and get a draught going (if there is one!)
• Close windows that are open on the sunny side and leave them open on the shady side if that’s possible, opening windows in the evening if safe to do so can also help.
• Close curtains and blinds when the sun is out to stop rooms heating up
• Don’t unintentionally heat up your home – avoid using the oven (try raw salads that need no heat to prepare or use the microwave) and turn off lights when they’re not in use

You can also save energy by:

• Unplugging electronics
• Keeping the fridge closed – in warm temperatures your fridge can heat quickly and it takes energy for it to cool back down
• Doing laundry in cold water and then hang it up outside on a washing line

Some top tips to save water can be found here from Thames Water: https://www.thameswater.co.uk/help/water-saving/water-saving-tips-for-summer

You may also find this article from Energy Saving Trust useful: https://energysavingtrust.org.uk/hub/quick-tips-to-save-energy/

If you believe you are at risk of, or currently experiencing fuel poverty we can help. Get in touch with Helen.Dean@ccberks.org.uk for further information and support.

• A recent study from the MET Office stated; ‘The chances of seeing 40°C days in the UK could be as much as 10 times more likely in the current climate than under a natural climate unaffected by human influence. The likelihood of exceeding 40°C anywhere in the UK in a given year has also been rapidly increasing.”