Purpose

To seek approval for the Vehicle Procurement
Plan for 2024-25.
This will enable fleet management to further procure vehicles for
the former NYCC replacements not covered under the existing Gateway
while clarity is sought on budgets for the county and former
districts, on a priority need. A 10 year can then be
produced.

Decision

Authorisation to commence a procurement
process for requirements for 2024-2025 for vehicle replacements and
including short term hire for all services.

Reasons for the decision

The procurement of new vehicles will allow the
Council to maintain an interim vehicle replacement programme to
ensure services have access to reliable, safe, and sustainable
vehicles.

Alternative options considered

We could continue to operate the existing
vehicles, but this may lead to reliability issues due to the age of
the vehicle leading to service disruption. Many of the vehicles are
in or near to the secondary leasing periods and lease companies can
request the return of vehicles with little notice. This would
require expensive short-term hires and may lead to service
disruption.