Guildford Council’s Ageing Vehicle Fleet is Costly and Inefficient

Published on: 19 Aug, 2026
Updated on: 19 Aug, 2026

Some of the dust trucks in the 41 vehicle fleet at the council’s Woking Road depot photographed in 2020

By James Moules

local democracy reporter

Guildford Borough Council is eyeing replacements for its ageing vehicle fleet, with forecast maintenance expenditure on existing vans and lorries set to be nearly double what was budgeted.

The council currently operates a fleet of 191 vehicles, ranging from delivery cars to bin lorries, but a majority of these are now well beyond their operating life expectancy, according to officers.

A report presented to Guildford’s overview and scrutiny committee said the deteriorating fleet is having an impact on the council’s ability to carry out services such as bin collections and street cleaning.

“All of these services have suffered service impacts and complaints as a result of vehicle breakdown, poor availability of some hire vehicles, and vehicle maintenance resource levels,” the report reads.

At the committee’s August meeting, councillors were told that the oldest vehicle in the fleet is now 18 years old, and the majority are more than 10 years old. This has resulted in many having high mileage and increased rates of mechanical and electrical faults.

“Quite often, collections are delayed because of issues that happen with these vehicles,” Karyn Punchard, the council’s interim director of environmental services, told the committee.

Guildford Borough Council had set aside £10 million in its 2026-27 budget to support a whole fleet replacement, which is expected to cost a total of £24 million. The officers’ report says the remaining £14 million will be subject to allocation by the new West Surrey Council.

From April 2027, West Surrey Council will assume responsibility for all local government services in Guildford – along with five other existing Surrey districts.

The report further notes that the current fleet’s forecast maintenance costs for 2026-27 alone stand at £1.3 million – which is nearly twice the budget available.

Officers told the committee: “The condition of the existing fleet is in such a poor state. If we had a rolling fleet replacement programme, then maybe only 25 per cent of the fleet would need to be replaced on an annual basis.

“That’s what we want to get to, but unfortunately we’re not there yet.”

Many of the council’s vehicles undertake statutory services – meaning the council has legal obligations to provide them – such as waste collections.

Officers added: “There are quite a lot of knock-on impacts to our every day service delivery when the vehicles are not effective.”

The fleet replacement report is set to be considered by the council’s cabinet later this week.