A raft of new fleet vehicles are set to be rolled out in Carlisle as the city council prepares to introduce its new Rethinking Waste programme.

Members of the executive will be asked to approve the release of more than £1.2m from the capital budget to replace key vehicles in the fleet at a meeting tomorrow.

After much of the city was flooded during Storm Desmond, the council is also looking to add a wider range of vehicles to its resources - including 4x4 pick-ups - so that teams are better prepared should such an event happen again.

A report prepared for members of the executive states that the programme includes the replacement of vehicles to support the delivery of the Rethinking Waste Project.

It adds that vehicles will also be trialled to ensure that they are fit for purpose and also reflect the latest developments in technology.

The project involves returning green box recycling collections, which are currently undertaken by a contractor, in-house and an extension of kerbside collections of recycling and garden waste to 'new build' estates.

It states: "In order to deliver this project in line with the agreed plan and timescales and to recognise the often lengthy lead-in and build times for specialist municipal vehicles it is necessary at this time to place orders in 2016/17 for vehicles that will not arrive until 2017/18 when payment committing capital expenditure in line with with programme."

The council says that if orders for key vehicles are not placed in time, then there would be "serious implications" for service performance.

It also says that there is a risk that "significant avoidable financial costs" could be incurred should the need arise to hire external vehicles. The report says that the cost of hiring one refuse collection vehicle for six months would cost around £22,100.

It also says: "The programme also aims to enhance the range of vehicles in our armoury to support the effective delivery of services in the event of major incidents.

"For example, replacing some vans with 4x4 pick-up style vehicles to improve responsiveness in the event of another flooding incident."

Councillors will be asked to approve the release of £1,221,00, but £597,100 has been carried forward from 2015/16 and a further £259,300 has been added to the vehicle replacement budget due to those lost in the flood.