Thanet council is expected to sign a lease next month to move its 113 vehicle fleet – which includes 41 HGVs- to a new workshop base at Manston.
A £1.3m pot is to be agreed for the scheme to refurbish the new property, which was previously used for the maintenance of fire appliances for the airport.
The council says the current workshop at the Manston Road depot “is old and no longer fit for purpose. The building does not meet modern standards for an HGV workshop, and it is not economically viable to refurbish and modernise the workshop in its current location.”
Lat November the council agreed to enter into a lease agreement for the Spitfire Way site. It was understood at the time that there were other parties interested in securing the site and the council risked losing the option to lease if it did not act swiftly.
An alternative decision to outsource maintenance of the fleet was deemed inefficient and the option to build a new workshop at the Manston Road site was discounted due to the unaffordable cost of £3m and significant disruption to operations over a prolonged period during a 2-3 year build.
A report to councillors says: “The Spitfire Way site offered an attractive solution as a long term replacement vehicle maintenance facility for the fleet. This is because its previous purpose was the maintenance of fire appliances for the airport and it is purpose built for HGV maintenance activities.
“It is much larger than the current facilities at Manston Road and already has vehicle maintenance pits present on site.
“The location is also ideal as it is just 2.2 miles from the Manston Road Depot and is an easy out of town route to navigate. It is also on the route between the existing depot and the tipping site in Hersden so is passed frequently by the council’s HGV fleet.”
The lease is due to be signed once work is completed to make new direct services connections for water, gas and electricity. These were previously supplied via the airport site and had been disconnected when the Spitfire Way workshop site was sold to a private owner several years ago. Completion is imminent.
A procurement exercise is planned for June to secure a design and build contractor to undertake the construction works.
The completion date target is November 2026.
Councillors are expected to agree to moving £525k underspend from a separate depot project into the budget for the new building works.
The money should be being used on Thanet not wasting it on things like this
The current yard is not able to cope with the new demands from the new housing!
Basically it needs more space
David, your comment is frankly stupid. If they do not have a facility to maintain more vehicles there wouldn’t be a collection service that will give you something else to complain about.
And the Council will be paying 12 grand a month to lease this building at Manston Airport (plus conversion expenses). The Manston Road depot has been okay for years, but all of a sudden it ain’t. Morons.