Repair Cafes in Essex - Help Sought

Hi

I work in technology for Essex County Council. We're exploring the viability of supporting repair cafes in Essex as part of sustainability and the circular economy.

Can anyone offer any guidance and experience around setting these up. Or if you're Essex based, is that something you'd have the time and enthusiasm to get involved ?

I and my colleagues would love to hear from you

Andy - direct message me  or reply below if you have any questions.

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  • Thanks Jim, really useful, we're also getting very good support from Cornwall County who are supporting the Cornwall Repair Cafe network we come under. I had a very enjoyable chat with the chap from County, turns out his father is a (clearly very pragmatic and sensible) engineer turned H&S adviser - the chap from County and I ended up chanting in unison "no, there is NO legal requirement to PAT test, no, you do NOT need to be formally trained to PAT test" Smiley He had a particularly interesting conversation with someone who's offering bike maintenance, which was a really good example / test case. The Cornwall County line is that although this may be based on expert experience, it is clearly given on a voluntary basis - it is down to the person bringing in the article to get it professionally checked if they have safety concerns. Cornwall have a standard disclaimer form for anyone bringing in items to sign which we'll be using (although I haven't seen it yet).

    https://www.cornwall.gov.uk/rubbish-recycling-and-waste/recycling/repair-cafes/