Agenda item

Based upon Cabinet recommendation, to approve the procurement of the required HGV vehicles as part of the ongoing Fleet Replacement Plan.

Members considered Cabinet’s recommendation to approve the procurement of the required HGV vehicles as part of the ongoing Fleet Replacement Plan, presented by Councillor Tierney.

Members made comments, asked questions and received responses as follows:

·         Councillor Gerstner stated it was an excellent report but asked are these vehicles being procured in the UK, are they UK sourced and built? Councillor Tierney responded that officers will be given the right to decide how the vehicles are purchased in consultation with him as Portfolio Holder so he would be pre-empting to say exactly what officers were going to do. He added that if what Councillor Gerstner is saying is that he would like a steer to try and procure in the UK he would be happy to pass this to officers but the most important thing is to ensure the vehicles are purchased in a timely fashion and at the best cost. Councillor Gerstner stated that he fully understands and appreciates this but given the fact that members have just heard that 99% of solar panels are built in China and 99% of wind turbines are built in Europe it would be a good thing for this Council to be seen to, providing the costing are competitive, look at UK suppliers. Councillor Tierney responded that he broadly agrees with this and would like to source from home, officers have heard Councillor Gerstner’s comments and will take that as a steer to do what they can to make this possible but taking into account the delivery and price to the taxpayer.

·         Councillor Woollard stated that he supports 100% the acquisition and keeping the fleet up-to-date but he does not see any mention of, which he hopes is deliberate, electric vehicles being looked at, which, in his view, is not appropriate. Councillor Tierney responded that as Portfolio Holder if he had been brought information on electric vehicles he would have looked at them with a very askance view but he doubts this will be possible because the costs are quite different, although it cannot be pre-judged and an open mind needs to be kept but feels it would be very unlikely.

·         Councillor Booth referred to the report stating that these are replacement costs but he recalls when he first joined the Council that these vehicles were leased and asked why has this approach been moved away from and has any consideration been given to setting up leasehold agreements? Councillor Tierney responded that is before his time as Portfolio Holder so the question could be addressed later on to the original Portfolio Holder who would have a lot of knowledge around this but his guess would be that it was probably more cost effective to purchase the vehicles. He stated that personally he likes the Council owning its own stock rather than hiring it, which is a positive, but if that worked out cheaper for the new vehicles then he is sure officers will investigate it and make the suggestions that are best for the Council.

·         Councillor Mrs French stated that she fully supports this proposal and she remembers many years ago the Council had broken down vehicles and did not have a collection over a Christmas period and a decision was made years ago that the vehicles would not be left to get into such an appalling state.

·         Councillor Booth stated that when he asked the question why vehicles were leased in the past he was told that it was most financially prudent way of doing it so, in his view, an open mind is needed to achieve the most cost effective way of ensuring the Council has the fleet of vehicles it needs. Councillor Tierney agreed and is sure that officers have heard his comments and they are welcome to suggest whatever they think the most appropriate and cost effective delivery method is.

·         Councillor Summers asked what happens with the old vehicles? Councillor Tierney responded that he not sure of the answer but he would suspect that they are sold as they are still working and would have some value.

·         Councillor Gowler asked how does this proposal fit in with the proposed new food waste collection and is this being taken into account when purchasing these vehicles? Councillor Tierney responded that this is a different policy which the Council has different income to deliver so whilst the whole service is tied together this proposal is for the 20 vehicles that the Council has currently that are looking to be replaced and not what might be needed for the new food waste collection service, with further information on this being available in the next 2-3 months.

·         Councillor Murphy referred to the question about leasing of the refuse vehicles and stated that the Council stopped leasing the vehicles years ago because it is more cost effective to purchase them and when they are owned by the Council it has its own workshop for repairs, which is a quicker service to get the vehicle back on the road whereas leased vehicles were taken away for weeks on end to repair.

·         Councillor Miscandlon stated that he agrees with everything that has been said and on the point that Councillor Gerstner made about obtaining a UK manufacturer he made the point that UK manufacturers are few and far between so the chassis, cab and engine will probably come from abroad but the manufacturing of the actual body is undertaken in this country and he hopes it continues to do so. He added that Councillor Tierney is correct that the Council needs to look at what is available but hopefully it is British manufactured, at least for the bodywork, protecting UK jobs.

·         Councillor Tierney thanked members for their comments and he is sure that officers will have heard those members that have made suggestions.

Proposed by Councillor Tierney, seconded by Councillor Miscandlon and AGREED to

·         approve the procurement of the 4 HGV vehicles for delivery April 2026 as part of the ongoing Fleet Replacement Plan;

·         approve the vehicle and capital requirement for 2027/28 and 2028/29 and for these requirements to be added to the Medium-Term Financial Strategy;

·         approve the delegation of the procurement of these vehicles to the Corporate Director with responsibility for Environmental Services, through existing procurement frameworks or mini tender as required, in consultation with the Portfolio Holder responsible for street sweeping, recycling and refuse collection; and

• note that the total value of required vehicles that will need to be ordered within the next 24 months is expected to be in the region of £2,560,000, with the Chief Finance Officer determining the best value means of financing these necessary vehicles.