£500k to be spent replacing and refurbishing seven Chichester District Council vehicles

Proposals to take £531,500 from the fleet asset replacement programme were given the nod during a meeting of the full council on Tuesday (March 19).

Two vehicles used by the street cleaning and grounds maintenance teams will be replaced with electric vehicles at a cost of £117,000, with a further £7,500 being used to install the necessary charging points at the Westhampnett depot.

Another £36,000 will be used to refurbish two vehicles, adding four or five years to their lifespan.

They could later be replaced with electric vehicles.

Two 3.5 tonne vehicles will be replaced with diesel at a cost of £119,000 and another £252,000 will be used to replace a mechanical sweeper.

With no electrical option available, the new sweeper will run on diesel.

Jonathan Brown, cabinet member for environmental strategy, said: “The recommendation is good value for money but it also represents the maximum we can achieve from a carbon reduction perspective at this time.

“In other words, it’s not the case that financial considerations have over-ridden environmental ones.”

Andy Howard, operations manager for Chichester Contract Services, said the council was ‘dipping our toe in the water to see how they perform’ when it came to the use of electric vehicles.

Mr Howard explained that, while they were more economical in the long-run, depending on how they were used, they had limitations such as not being able to tow trailers.

He added: “There are many authorities that are cautiously taking that first step and investing in one or two vehicles to see how they operate.”

One of the electric vehicles – known as a box tipper – will be used by the street cleaning team, while the other – a standard flat-bed tipper – will go to the grounds maintenance team.