Leaders at East Suffolk Council asked to spend more than £500k to keep waste and street cleaning services intact

Leaders are being asked to spend more than £500,000 to keep waste and cleaning services intact.

Next Tuesday, East Suffolk's lead for the environment, Cllr Sally Noble, will be asking other cabinet members to commit £546,000 to buy out certain vehicles at the end of their leases.

As it stands, East Suffolk Services Limited (ESSL), a company owned by the council, subleases light fleet vehicles and HGVs from Norse via a leasing company.

With the vehicle agreements set to expire by December 31, Cllr Sally Noble, the council's lead for the environment, will be bidding

The money would be used to buy 16 light vehicles and seven HGVs from Norse at a discount, as well as help fund 12 other short-term lease agreements between January and March next year.

Without the investment, council papers state, the authority will not be able to provide some services including waste collection, street cleaning, grounds maintenance, and cash collections.

The council said it could not renew the current leases instead of spending the money and estimated the cost of buying new vehicles to be just over £2.2 million.

Some of the vehicles originally leased from Norse were also in a poor state and were returned early. Hire vehicles are currently being used as replacements, although the council warned this could not continue due to high costs.