£5.6m expense to replace ageing council bin lorries

£5.6m expense to replace ageing council bin lorries

NEWRY, Mourne and Down Council is facing a £5.6m bill for the replacement of a fleet of vehicles.

Councillors will be told at a meeting of the local authority’s Neighbourhood Services Committee tonight that 24 bin lorries need to be replaced, alongside a host of others used for various tasks across the district.

Politicians have already agreed to earmark £1.6m for the replacement of vehicles, but business cases need to be completed for the others which are expected to remain in service for another year.

A number of the current bin lorries are eight years old and politicians will be told this evening that the other vehicles which need to be replaced include three 32 tonne skip loaders, 32 chassis cab vehicles, seven sweeper vehicles and 19 small bins.

It is hoped that the bin lorries will be replaced by the end of October next year, with the remaining vehicles due to be replaced one month earlier.

The total number of vehicles which have been earmarked for replacement is 85, with the number of business cases approved to date to purchase new ones standing at 25.

It will be confirmed tonight that the replacement programme was stalled over the past two years, with the council able to identify additional resource within the Neighbourhood Services Department budget.

Council officials say the fleet condition of local authority vehicles is not only continually changing, but is kept under review from a reliability, safety, legal and cost to maintain point of view.

Vehicles which have been identified as being no longer viable to keep in service, will be temporarily replaced with hire vehicles in the short term, with arrangements made to replace them using the existing capital replacement budget.

Council officials say they are legally obliged to ensure the local authority fleet is maintained and is safe and that while it is hoped those that need to be replaced will be by next September and October, progress depends upon market supply restrictions and prices and import tariffs.

And, in line with the organisation’s commitment to reducing its carbon footprint and using greener vehicles, replacement vehicles should have proven ultra-low or zero tailpipe emissions or, in the absence of these options, the vehicles must gave the best available technology and meet service demands.

Councillors will tonight be asked to formally approve the officers’ fleet replacement programme and give the green light to present the outstanding business cases at the next Neighbourhood Services Committee.

It will also be confirmed that the vehicle replacement costs are covered in the local authority’s current capital vehicle programme.