Kettering and Corby merge waste, recycling, grounds and cleansing ops

Kettering Borough Council and Corby Borough Council are merging their waste, recycling, grounds and cleansing services which will start with the procurement of a new fleet of vehicles in February 2019.

As part of the merger, Corby’s current service, which has been outsourced for more than 10 years, will be brought back in-house. Kettering will be the lead authority for the new shared service.

Brendan Coleman, head of environmental care at Kettering Borough Council, said: ‘Merging our services in this way means that we can share resources and ultimately provide better value for money to local residents across both areas. 

‘We are confident that the implementation of a new, fit-for-purpose fleet in Corby will lead to immediate service improvements in the area.’

Contract hire and fleet management company Specialist Fleet Services (SFS) will be providing the new fleet, which comprises 35 vehicles including refuse trucks, recycling vehicles, sweepers, tipper trucks and transit vans.

SFS has been Kettering Borough Council’s vehicle partner for more than 15 years and is now set to continue working with the authority for nine more. There are two years remaining on the current seven-year contract, which comprises vehicle provision, maintenance and workshop management, and this has been extended for a further seven years.

Brendan Coleman said: ‘We have been working with SFS for many years and they have always impressed us with their responsiveness and professionalism. They have the right combination of expertise in vehicle provision, maintenance and workshop management, and they have consistently provided us with cost and efficiency savings.  We look forward to continuing our excellent working relationship.’

Bob Sweetland, managing director of SFS, said: ‘It’s fantastic news that Kettering BC has extended its contract with us; the fourth time it has done so since we started working together. We look forward to working with both councils to help them optimise their fleet to deliver the best possible services to residents.’