Rotherham Council to spend £4 million on "ageing" bin lorries
The money will go to replacing half of the council's force of refuse lorries
Rotherham Council is set to spend as much as £4 million in replacing the city's fleet of bin lorries.
Currently, the council owns around 32 refuse collection vehicles, which had been purchased in 2016.
However, much of the fleet has been hit with a plague of breakdowns and faults, which has caused problems for collecting rubbish.
The council now says that half of the city's refuse collection lorries are reaching the end of their lifespan on the roads, according to documents.
The cost of maintaining the lorries have now become so large that funds being allocated to keep the current fleet of vehicles is almost the same as the cost of buying a new set of lorries.
As a result, the decision was made to replace the fleet to "mitigate the risk of future breakdowns" as well as reducing the cost of repairing vehicles.
The cost, which equates to £250,000 per lorry, will be spent gradually over the course of the next two years.
The council has acknowledged the risks involved in the project, particularly with potential price increases for the vehicles and ensuring adequate resources across the relevant services to deliver the replacement plan.