Issue - meetings

Consideration was given to a report of the Director of Environment which sought approval to purchase new vehicles for the next three financial years (2022/23, 2023/24 and 2024/25).

A review of the Council’s fleet was undertaken in May 2022 and this identified a number of amendments which were required to the agreed content of the last Cabinet approved Fleet Replacement report. The amendments detailed in the report before Members provided an accurate forecast of vehicle purchasing requirements for the remainder of 2022/23 and the next three financial years and if approved would superseded the last Fleet replacement Programme agreed in 2019.

The Fleet management service had identified the remaining spend on vehicles for 2022/23 and the total spend over the next three financial years.

The report also sought approval to design and implement appropriate procurement strategies for the sourcing of the required vehicles and sought authority for the purchases to be approved by the Director of Environment in consultation with the Commercial Procurement unit.

Options/alternatives considered

Option 1 – to approve the purchase of new vehicles for the remainder of 2022/23 and the next three financial years (2023/24, 2024/25 & 2025/26) as detailed in this report and to delegate authority to design and implement appropriate procurement strategies for the sourcing of the required vehicles to the Director of Environment in consultation with the Commercial Procurement Unit so that the FMS can purchase vehicles over the next three financial years without referring back to Cabinet. On approval, the FMS will undertake all subsequent procurement and approval processes in line with the Council’s Procurement Processes

Option 2 – to delay replacing vehicles within the fleet replacement programme. Whilst this may save money in terms of delaying initial purchasing costs, the potential risk of repair and breakdown costs must be factored in. Due to the nature of work and the large majority of the council’s vehicle fleet (i.e., waste collection vehicles, highway repair), any vehicle that break downs has the potential to require a hired vehicle replacement. Hiring vehicles, to replace a current fleet vehicle, has a significant impact on service budgets as they are an additional and often unaccounted costs.

Option 3 – to look at other FRP models such as leasing and hiring. When the Council introduced its original FRP strategy in 2012/13, it was done to replace the leased and hired vehicle models which existed at the time. The current FRP strategy is based on the economical and management benefits gained from ownership of the vehicle. The FMS has worked to this strategy for the past ten years.

RESOLVED – That the Cabinet would consider the comerically sensitive information contained in the report at Item 13 before making a decision.