Edinburgh City Council is set to spend £55m replacing obsolete vehicles and ensuring its fleet complies with new environmental rules.
The local authority’s finance and resources committee has approved a plan to replace more than 1,000 vehicles, including 204 that fail to comply with the city’s low emission zone (LEZ).
The Fleet Asset Management Plan will see older vehicles replaced and more vehicles brought in-house rather than leasing them.
Finance and resources convener Mandy Watt said: ‘Our fleet asset management plan ensures our vehicles are modern, efficient, and fit for purpose to deliver services across the city. As part of our investment in the fleet we will also be able to upgrade the minority of vehicles that don’t comply with Edinburgh’s low emission zone.
‘Increasing the number of council-owned vehicles reduces our reliance on those provided by third parties too – and the associated hire costs. This will free up funds to purchase vehicles outright and employ in-house technicians to maintain vehicles.
‘By modernising our fleet we’ll continue exploring cleaner, environmentally friendly forms of transport, such as electric, helping to improve air quality and supporting net zero goals.’
This article was originally published by LAPV.
