Council set to spend £2.6m replacing old vehicles

Councillor Rhys Baker said the spending would help the council continue to provide "a variety" of services

A council in Lincolnshire is set to spend £2.6m on replacing 54 of its vehicles.

Cabinet members at South Kesteven District Council voted for 14 contracts to be awarded to purchase new vehicles at a meeting on Tuesday.

They include new road sweepers, panel vans and caged tipper vans.

Councillors said many of the authority's existing vehicles had reached the end of their operational lifespan and needed to be replaced.

Some of the vehicles are being funded through the council's housing services budget at a cost of £812,414.

Councillor Rhys Baker, cabinet member for the environment and waste, said the remainder would be paid for out of the council's general fund.

"It will enable the council to continue to provide a variety of services to our communities," he said.

Councillor Paul Stokes, deputy leader at the authority, welcomed the investment.

"We want to make sure that our services are as reliable as possible. This is why we are investing in our fleet and making sure that our staff can get to where they need to," he said.

"We don't routinely keep our older vehicles. It's our usual process for our older vehicles to be put up for auction. We do not hold on to them.

"One of the issues is that we don't have the space to keep them. But we do build in a number of spare vehicles for when other vehicles are undergoing maintenance or repairs," he added.

According to the Local Democracy Reporting Service, the new vehicles would be purchased over a four-year period.

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