Purpose

To review the Council’s five-year
rolling Vehicle Replacement Programme (VRP) and make recommendations for
capital expenditure to ensure that the Council has a resilient and cost-effective
fleet, as well as reducing its carbon emissions.

 

In May 2023, the Executive
approved the Council’s first rolling five-year Vehicle Replacement Programme
for the Council’s vehicle fleet.  This
would be updated each Autumn to inform budget setting for the following year
and the Medium-Term Financial Strategy.

 

The 2025 Annual Review proposes a
new rolling five-year Vehicle Replacement Programme to 2030/31, estimating that
47 vehicles will need to be replaced at an estimated maximum cost of
£4.73M.  All available replacement
vehicle options will be considered and assessed against estimated whole life
costs, impact on fleet carbon emissions and availability of capital budget. The
lifetime costs analysis, which takes account of capital purchase and running
costs over a 10-year period, highlights that diesel vehicles remain the
cheapest vehicle type at present for most of our fleet.

 

The recommended Vehicle
Replacement Programme will reduce the carbon emissions of the Council’s fleet
in line with the Council’s aspiration to become net zero by 2030.  The five new food waste vehicles will be
fuelled with HVO when the service commences in March 2026, which will negate
the carbon impact of these additional fleet vehicles and, although the use of
HVO in the whole diesel fleet to reduce carbon emissions needs to be balanced
against the additional cost, an additional seven vehicles will be moved to HVO
in April 2026.

Decision

RESOLVED that the Executive:

 

(a) 
endorses
the revised Vehicle Replacement Programme for 2026-2031 as detailed at Table 1
of the Tabled item;

 

(b) 
agrees
to take forward a sum of £1,124,400 for consideration in the General Fund
capital budget for 2026/27 funded from capital reserves, for the purchase of 9
vehicles;

 

(c) 
agrees
to take forward a sum of £122,700 for consideration in the Housing Revenue
Account (HRA) capital budget for 2026/27, funded from capital reserves, for the
purchase of 3 vehicles; and

 

(d) 
supports
the proposal to run seven additional vehicles on HVO, saving an estimated 137
tCO2e a year and at an additional cost of £6,600.