FIVE diesel bin lorries are set to be leased by the council to urgently replace some of the current fleet.

The lorries will be on the streets of Brighton and Hove for five years, costing the council £1.5 million during their time as part of the fleet.

The decision comes after the council revealed that five of the oldest vehicles in the fleet are repeatedly breaking down, causing frequent disruption to bin collection services.

The news comes despite a pledge by the council to have a fully-electric fleet of bin lorries by 2030. However, a council spokesman said the administration "remains committed" to that goal and is "confident that we will be able to deliver this".

He said: "Due to problems with some of our current lorries, we had an urgent need for replacements.

"Residents want their bins collected, and we don't want there to be any delays.

"These vehicles are not currently available in electric, and have a lead-time from ordering of anything up to two years."

He also said that converting the vehicles to electric was not possible in the timescales required by the council for the lorries.

Some of the cost of the lease will be offset by the sale of the old vehicles at auction, as well as fuel efficiency savings, and maintenance of the leased vehicles - bringing the total cost down to £689,000 over five years.

Currently, only one electric refuse lorry, the first to be owned by a council in south-east England, is in service in the city - with a second due to enter service in the coming days.

The council hopes to have four electric bin lorries in operation by April, four months later than initially planned.

A spokesman for the council said a delay in rollout had been caused by a high demand for electric vehicles both nationally and internationally, as well as a need to build charging infrastructure for the lorries at the Hollingdean depot.

He said that work is also underway on tendering for new vehicles to come into service in the next financial year.

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