Council bosses in Leeds are planning to spend £5.2m on new vehicles this year and some will be gas-powered to help cut the city’s carbon emissions.
On the shopping list is £1.8m for 13 refuse collection trucks and four of them will run on biomethane.
It is also proposed to spend just over £1m on 14 specialised vehicles for the highways department, £96,000 on six dog wardens vans, £765.000 on 52 vans for property maintenance teams, over £600,000 on welfare vehicles to provide transport for vulnerable people and £770,000 on specialised waste vehicles.
A report to the council’s resources scrutiny board on the council’s fleet services operation – which is responsible for maintaining 1,200 wagons, trucks, gritters and mobile libraries – said a number of trials were being undertaken on alternative fuels for both light and heavy vehicles.
The council last year became the first local authority in the country to have its own biomethane fuel station.
Coun Pauleen Grahame, who chairs the board, said: “Without a fleet of safe, reliable vehicles the council wouldn’t be able to deliver a range of vital services to residents.
“As well as the core role of managing the fleet, it’s very encouraging to see the benefits of jobs and apprenticeships offered by the team, the positive impact on the environment from reduced emissions with greener fuels and the opportunity to generate income from providing MOTs to the public.”
The board had previously made a number of recommendations after examining the work of the fleet services operation.
Coun Grahame said: “We’ve had a really positive response to the recommendations of the scrutiny board. Recommendations we’ve made have been endorsed and taken up by the team and we’re delighted with the progress being made by fleet services.”
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