Decision details

To progress in advance of Full Council approval (anticipated September 2021) a number of urgent service critical vehicle replacements with long lead in manufacture times that are scheduled around available build slots, which could be lost without a July 2021 commitment to order.

Failure to move ahead with the Fleet Replacement Plan and associated Sustainable Fleet Management Strategy places the authority at risk as vehicles reach end of life of repeated statutory service failure, associated reputational damage, increased revenue budget pressure and potential for breach of its Operator Licence compliance.

The vehicles detailed within this Decision Record have reached end of economical life and have extended lead in manufacturing timelines with provisional build slots booked in accordance with procurement processes in the knowledge of a planned Full Council meeting of the 13th July 2021 decision. Due to a delay in lifting Covid-19 restrictions a decision was taken to cancel the meeting delaying approval. The impact of this delay until the planned next Council meeting of 14th September places BCP Council at risk of losing provisional build slots if confirmed orders cannot be reached in advance. The vehicle manufacturer is experiencing high demand and is in a position to offer unsecured build slots to other customers which would result in extending the period before securing receipt of replacement vehicles estimated at this time to be 6 months and consequently increasing the risk of interim hire costs and/or service disruption to the Council. At the present time the service has 7 vehicle breakdowns impacting service performance a pattern that will increase until replacements are secured as existing fleet reaches end of life.

The release of £390k to upgrade electricity supply to the Depot underpins the strategy, without it orders for the 5 x ERCV’s within this report cannot progress. Funding sources have already been secured via existing MHCLG Waste Infrastructure Grant.