Decision details

To move provisional capital sum of £1.378m to fully approved for the procurement of vehicles and plant to replace end of life units in 2021/22. This project will ensure that the specialist fleet vehicles and standard vehicles used by frontline services within the Council continue to be managed effectively and efficiently using vehicles and plant built to the latest standards and regulations regarding safety and emissions, operate with greater fuel efficiency and meet the changing requirements of the evolving services.
These replacement vehicles and plant are for key frontline services such as the collection of waste and recycling, cleansing, maintenance of parks and open spaces and other services such as Highways and Heritage. There are several specialist vehicles and plant along with some standard vans. The vehicles will all be fitted with the latest specification of engines leading to reduced emissions and better fuel efficiency. Stop/Start technology and electric vehicles will also be considered for the non-specialist vehicles reducing our carbon footprint. The replacement of the vehicles allows each team to step back and assess what are the best vehicles to achieve their required outcomes through changing service demands and not just replace on a 'like for like' basis.

The 2021/22 capital programme agreed at February 2021 cabinet has a provisional capital allocation of £1.378m for the Assets

Extending the life of vehicles and contract hire options have been considered.
Extending the life of the vehicles is an ongoing consideration and vehicles have already been moved to future years where possible, extending the life of the remaining vehicles will lead to increased down time and additional maintenance costs and some are not be CAZ Compliant. These frontline vehicles are worked hard and a rolling replacement programme has been established to ensure the vehicles and plant are changed at the optimum time to avoid increased costs related to mechanical failure and downtime. Contract hire has not been chosen as this is generally less flexible on vehicle specification and more expensive than the capital recharge costs.