New fleet to clean up Hinckley and Bosworth

A new fleet of waste and recycling vehicles is out on the streets of Hinckley & Bosworth marking the final stage of a major overhaul of the council’s bin collection and grounds maintenance service.

The new fleet of 67 service vehicles is the latest in a series of improvements the council has brought in to boost efficiency, manage costs and improve reliability this year.  

In April the council brought its dry recycling service back in house and now collects recycling in one mixed recycling bin which has already increased the monthly quantity of material recycled.  

Then in June, bin collection rounds were changed for the borough’s 51,000 households for the first time in nine years, with rounds redrawn to make them as efficient as possible in light of the new properties built since the last time the rounds were reviewed. 

In July, the council took delivery of replacement grounds maintenance equipment to help to keep the borough’s two million square metres of parks and open spaces, community housing sites, woodlands and nature reserves well looked after as part of a ten year investment programme.

Now the new fleet completes the overhaul, providing vehicles that are more efficient to run and maintain than the aging stock of vehicles that was becoming increasingly unreliable and expensive to maintain.

The new fleet of vehicles comprises a combination of refuse and recycling collection vehicles, sweepers, vans, flat back LGVs and a hook lift HGV to support the waste, greenspaces and housing repairs services. 

The council carried out a comprehensive tender procurement process which compared contract hire with outright purchase before opting to contract hire the majority of vehicles, with a small number of special vehicles the council owns to be retained. 

Following the tender, the contract for heavy vehicles was awarded to Specialist Fleet Services Ltd (SFS) and the contract for light vehicles was awarded to Leaseplan Ltd

Bob Sweetland, Managing Director, SFS said:

We are delighted the vehicle switch over has gone smoothly and to have retained Hinckley & Bosworth as one of our most long-standing customers. Minimising any disruption to frontline services is a key priority for us, not just at the start but for the entire duration of the contract.

Mark Lovett, Head of Commercial Vehicles for LeasePlan UK said:

Giving residents an efficient service is key for Hinckley & Bosworth Council (HBBC), and we are delighted to be working in partnership to help them achieve this. Providing reliable vehicles which can help the council provide outstanding front-line services in the most cost-efficient, sustainable manner, is imperative, and we look forward to working closely with the team to deliver this.

Cllr Mark Nickerson, Executive Member for Neighbourhood Services at HBBC said:

Our youngest vehicles were seven years old and older vehicles were unreliable and becoming expensive to maintain. The new fleet will decrease our maintenance costs and increase the reliability of our services. All the vehicles are on contact hire, which proved to be the most cost and risk effective solution. As well as improving efficiency, our refuse trucks now all have Euro 6 engines and extra protection for cyclists, reducing our emissions and making them safer for other road users.

The team has made some huge changes this year, but thanks to their hard work those changes were planned and made with the minimum of fuss and disruption to our residents.