Decision details

To award a contract to B & B Machinery Ltd for the supply of two 2.5t Counterbalance forklifts c/w attachments at a cost of £43,690.25 each plus VAT plus a 4th year warranty at a cost of £1,150.00 per forklift. Total cost - £89,680.50 plus VAT

Ubico, on behalf of Cheltenham Borough Council, manage operations at the bulking shed at Swindon Road which sorts Cheltenham’s kerbside recycling.

The existing two counterbalance forklifts are heavily used and have reached the end of their life and beyond economical repair and need replacing. The two forklifts are critical pieces of equipment within the bulking shed.

This procurement is in line with the cabinet decision dated 30 November 2021 approving the move to alternative fuels or away from internal combustion engines for all our fleet and plant as quickly as practicable where alternatives are available and within available resources to support our climate change ambitions of net zero by 2030.

Whilst there are electric vehicles of this type available on the market to purchase, these are often significantly more expensive when costed against conventional ICE models. Ubico trialled a demonstration electric forklift but unfortunately it did not perform satisfactorily in the working environment however the manufacturer of this equipment also permits the use of HVO fuels, which is now being used by most of the current Council fleet

Ubico have carried out a procurement exercise through the TPPL framework.

Officers have considered whether the service could continue to be delivered without these vehicles and concluded that it could not. These ICE vehicles will be fuelled by HVO not diesel to reduce carbon emissions. The bulking shed cannot operate without the use of forklifts to move bales of recycling and load vehicles.