Decision

To award a contract to Romaquip Ltd to supply two Isuzu N75.150 Chassis Cabs c/w Romaquip Kerbside Recycling Body @ £154,726.25 each (plus £217.00 first registration fee and 12 months road fund licence) – total cost per vehicle £154,943.25 plus VAT
Total Capital Expenditure - £309,886.50

Reasons for the decision

Cheltenham Borough Council is responsible for waste and recycling collections across the Borough. Ubico, the Council’s environmental services partner, deliver these services on our behalf and have identified that the existing two vehicles which are used to deliver kerbside sort recycling services in our harder to access areas are old and have now reached the end of their useful life and need replacing. The vehicles are on the asset replacement plan for this year and budget is in place.
This procurement is in line with the cabinet decision dated 30 November 2021 approving the move to alternative fuels or away from internal combustion engines for all our fleet and plant as quickly as practicable where alternatives are available and within available resources to support our climate change ambitions of net zero by 2030.
The vehicles that are being proposed to be purchased will have a Euro 6 Diesel Engines, which are the cleanest and greenest diesel engines, currently available in this market sector. The manufacturer of this vehicle also permits the use of HVO fuels, which is now being used by most of the current Council fleet. In addition, these vehicles will be fitted with eco-driving telematics to enable drivers to be taught more efficient driving techniques to further reduce carbon emissions and raise mpg.
Whilst there are electric vehicles of this type available on the market to purchase, these are significantly more expensive when costed against conventional ICE models, and the depot would also need significant financial investment in additional infrastructure to support the power requirement to charge such vehicles.

Alternative options considered

Officers have considered whether the service could continue to be delivered without these vehicles and concluded that it could not given the authority’s requirement to deliver kerbside recycling to all properties, even those in narrow roads. These ICE vehicles will be fuelled by HVO not diesel to reduce carbon emissions. Not replacing these vehicles at this point in time will not deliver the benefits set out above and will have a negative impact on the budget. Specialist vehicles such as these are very expensive and difficult to hire in therefore there is no alternative other than to replace the vehicles to maintain cost effective services.