Somerset Council to spend £2.3m on 14 new gritter lorries
Somerset Council plans £2.3m overhaul of gritter fleet as winter pressures loom
Somerset Council will spend up to £2.3m on buying 14 new gritter lorries ahead of the coming winter.
The council currently operates a fleet of 23 dedicated gritters, which are rolled out in the winter to ensure major transport routes across Somerset remain open in the face of ice and snow.
Two new gritters entered service last winter, with the vehicles being christened Basil Salty and Gritney Spears following a competition with Somerset schools – the winning entries coming from South Somerset Partnership School and Bucklers Mead Academy, both based in Yeovil.
Ten of the existing vehicles are reaching the end of their active service life, with much of the fleet suffering “significant deterioration” and costing the council increasing amounts in ongoing maintenance.
The council has now entered into a contract with Romaquip to purchase 14 replacement vehicles – with the option to extend this to a further five if required.
Jeremy Fry, the council’s infrastructure and transport officer for highways operations, explained in his written report: “The council currently operates a fleet of 23 dedicated gritters, of which nine are now more than 10 years old and a further nine are between five and 10 years old.
“The nature of winter gritting operation is that these assets suffer significant
deterioration due to excessive abrasive corrosion resulting from the salting
operations.
“The oldest gritters in our fleet are now experiencing significant maintenance and repair attention, and next year these will be subjected to higher maintenance rates.
“Furthermore, the risk to service delivery due to ageing of the fleet is a significant concern due to time off road for repairs and maintenance.
“The provision of these new vehicles ensures that we can continue to meet our statutory duties outlined in the Highways Act 1980, which requires local authorities to keep highways safe and passable in adverse weather conditions.”
The council currently spends around £200,000 on servicing and maintaining its fleet of winter service vehicles.
Up to £2.3m has been committed to purchasing the new vehicles over the next four years as part of the council’s capital programme.
The contract with Romaquip included an option to purchase an additional five vehicles in the third year of the agreement – though this will require additional funding to be allocated.
Mr Fry said it was not possibly to simply hire in vehicles on an annual basis, stating this would additional pressure on the council’s revenue budget (which covers day-to-day spending rather than new vehicles or other major projects).
He said: “This option was rejected on grounds that there is no revenue budget
available, and there is no revenue generation or income to cover the costs of leasing.”
It would cost the council more than £218,000 to hire out seven vehicles over the coming winter to cover for gritting vehicles which are unusable or undergoing maintenance.
The council has not indicated how soon the new vehicles will enter service.