PARWICH.ORG

The issue of an oil buying co-op in Parwich has been left a bit up in the air and there seem to be four alternatives:

1. Have further discussion
2. Set up a centrally organised oil buying co-op
3. Seek external support for a local syndicate
4. Continue with the current informal system

though unless anyone comes forward to take further action we at PARWICH.ORG suggest that we continue with Option 4.  For more details

1. Have further discussion

None of the Blog Team were able to attend the open meeting about the possibility of setting up an oil co-op in the village, although there was interest expressed by those present. Unfortunately no clear way forward emerged from the meeting. Some 14 individuals and organisations left their contact details and after the meeting one further person (not on-line) phoned Karen Carpenter of Derbyshire Dales District Council to express an interest. In addition to these people the Blog Team has emails for some further 12 or so people interested in some form of collective ordering.

Karen Carpenter has offered to organise a further meeting if people feel this would be helpful. If people want to follow this up either contact Karen directly (tel. 01629 761316 email karen.carpenter@derbyshiredales.go.uk ) or put a comment to that effect below.

2. Set up a centrally organised oil buying co-op

To set up a formal oil co-op with a central ordering team checking what people require and doing the ordering involves a lot of work and so far no one has volunteered to take this on. However if any one is interested in doing this let us know via a comment below or an email to parwich@hotmail.co.uk and we will organise an on-line poll to identify what the preferred option is.

It is worth noting that some households are only accessible by smaller tankers and it may make sense that those requiring the smaller tanker order together as this impacts on the price. Also some households also have a tank a distance from any vehicle access requiring a longer hose. It may be that to get the best prices there would need to more than one buying group.  Also there is the issue of people using LPG.

3. Seek external support for a syndicate

Richard Howell of oilconsolidation.co.uk has several times put comments on the Blog pointing out the option of his organisation administering any syndicate for our area. The advantage of this would be that it removes the need for local people to ring round suppliers themselves before each order and could more easily cover a larger area than Parwich, Alsop, Ballidon and Pikehall; however we would ideally have more information on how it would work and how it would compare price-wise to options 2 or 4.

Anyone willing to research this further please contact us via the comments facility or emailing parwich@hotmail.co.uk.

4. Continue with the current informal system

Discussion between several of the Blog Team, and others, has resulted in the suggestion that we keep the current informal system. So that people volunteer on a one-off basis when they need oil themselves and are willing to include others, as Martin did this week.

The way it would work is that an individual would email the Blog Team, a post would be put on the Blog with the individual’s contact details. The responsibility is then for others to contact the person ordering and follow what ever restrictions they choose, i.e. large tanker, with orders in excess of 800 litres or small tanker, 500 litres +.

In addition a couple of members of the Blog Team have offered to email everyone who signed up to inform them that someone is ordering oil. This has the disadvantage that we are not prepared to inform people who do not have an email address, so anyone not on-line want to be involved will need to find someone to receive the emails on their behalf.

Conclusion

Unless any one volunteers to pursue Options 1 or 2 or 3, for the time being we will continue with Option 4. The Blog Team will check with everyone who has already expressed an interest whether they want email notifications each time a relevant post is published, and anyone else wanting to be notified of up coming orders should let us know at parwich@hotmail.co.uk.