WORCESTER is to spend £1.5 million on a fleet of new rubbish collection trucks and street sweepers after plans were given the green light by council chiefs.

Conservative leaders at Worcester City Council agreed to invest in seven mechanical road sweeping vehicles, nine light commercial vehicles and three refuse vehicles (19 in total) at a cabinet meeting at Worcester Guildhall yesterday.

The fine detail of the plan was delegated to the service manager at Cleaner and Greener City, a department of the city council.

The investment will set the council back £1.5 million but Tory cabinet leaders anticipate it will save the council £100,000 in maintenance costs for the fleet of 67 vehicles it owns and operates.

The investment was approved despite plans by the Conservative leadership to hand most of the Cleaner and Greener City department to a private company in 2017.

At the meeting this led to suggestions from a Labour councillor that ratepayers could end up subsidising the private contract holder.

The procurement of the new vehicles will include the opportunity to trial vehicles by staff before any commitment is made.

Cllr Andy Roberts, cabinet member for a clean, green and safe city, said when there was a slow down in investment the public would notice the difference.

He added: "One thing we don't want to do is allow a drop in standards and public satisfaction.

"The justification for it (the investment) is that we have high standards and it is essential we maintain those high standards."

Cllr Roberts compared the maintenance of the fleet to paying for repairs to a car that was reaching the end of its natural life and said a saving of £100,000 would be made by procuring the new vehicles.

The cost will be split - £440,000 being spent in 2015/16 and £1.09 million the following year. Outright purchase has been deemed the most cost effective solution when set against the life of the vehicles.

Cllr Marc Bayliss said the beauty and cleanliness of the city was the 'core of what the administration is about'.

He added: "We need the tools to do the job. We won't accept waist high grass in the cemetery or overflowing bins across this city."

But Labour councillor Roger Berry said: "How are we going to make sure we're not subsidising any future person in this sell off? We don't want ratepayers to be paying months afterwards or years afterwards when somebody has taken over the contract."

Leader of the council Simon Geraghty said the need to upgrade the fleet was a professional judgement as well as a political one and Cllr Roberts agreed, arguing it was based on the recommendation of officers.

Cllr Geraghty said: "This city council wants good quality services however they are procured, whether in-house or externally.

"There is a cost to having the high standards we seem to achieve. We're prepared to pay that price."