The council is replacing its whole refuse fleet after breakdowns hit collections: 52 Dennis Eagle trucks, 18 already allocated, two arriving a month, plus a £3.3m Hexham workshop. What the £12.1m contract says.

Northumberland County Council is replacing its entire fleet of bin lorries, and has admitted that breakdowns of the old vehicles have been disrupting collections. In a statement on Thursday 13 August the council said it is rolling out 52 new refuse collection vehicles at a cost of more than £13 million, with 18 already allocated to rounds and the rest arriving at two a month until the programme finishes in November 2027.

The trucks are Dennis Eagle Olympus models, and the council says they were chosen in a narrow-track, rear-steer configuration to cope with the county’s mix of tight town streets and rural lanes. They replace what the council describes as “ageing vehicles that have become increasingly prone to breakdowns, causing disruption to bin collection services in some areas”.

What the contract record shows

The council’s press release does not name the supplier’s contract, but the procurement record does. Contracts Finder lists notice NCC1107, “Refuse Collection Vehicle (RCV) Replacement”, awarded to Dennis Eagle Limited on 18 June 2025 with a value of £12,094,070. The contract runs from 11 July 2025 to 10 July 2030 and was called off under the North East Procurement Organisation’s NEPO 224 framework for heavy goods and specialist vehicles.

The notice describes the deal as the supply of “up to 24 refuse collection vehicles over the first 12 months of the contract period, with delivery schedule 2 units per month”, with a further lot for “refuse collection conversions up to 44”. That squares with the council’s account of two vehicles a month since the first deliveries in October 2025, and with 18 vehicles on the road by mid August 2026.

Key facts panel: 52 new refuse collection vehicles; more than 13 million pounds; 18 already allocated; deliveries of 2 a month; first deliveries October 2025, programme complete November 2027; contract awarded to Dennis Eagle Limited 18 June 2025 for 12,094,070 pounds; plus a 3.3 million pound six-bay workshop at Tyne Mills, Hexham
Graphic by The Northumberland Post.

A new workshop at Hexham

Alongside the trucks, the council is spending £3.3 million on a six-bay workshop at Tyne Mills, Hexham. It will replace what the council calls “the ageing workshop in the west of the county” and will maintain every council vehicle based in the west, from refuse trucks and gritters to road sweepers and ride-on mowers, according to the statement.

Councillor John Riddle, the cabinet member for environment, rural and farming, said: “We recognise that there have been occasions in recent months where collections have been affected by vehicle breakdowns. These investments demonstrate our commitment to addressing those challenges and delivering a first-class service for communities across Northumberland.”

What it means for you

Missed collections should become rarer, but not overnight. With 18 of 52 vehicles delivered, about 35%, and the rest arriving at two a month, roughly two thirds of the fleet is still the old one, and will be for another year or more. General waste and recycling are each collected once a fortnight in Northumberland, so a missed round is a four-week gap if it is not picked up.

If your bin is missed, report it the same day. The council’s bin collections page says you can report a missed collection if the bin was out by 7am, no disruption was advertised on the Council Alerts page, and no red or white tag was left on it for wrong items in the recycling; once reported, the council says it will collect “as soon as possible”. A bin that was not out when the crew arrived is emptied on the next scheduled day, two weeks later. Disruptions from weather, roadworks or “other issues out of our control” are posted on the Council Alerts page and on the council’s Facebook and X accounts.

Your round may get a new lorry before your neighbour’s. The council has not published which rounds have received the 18 vehicles so far, only that they are “entering service across communities across the county”.

West Northumberland gets the workshop. The Tyne Mills site in Hexham will be the maintenance base for every council vehicle that operates in the west of the county, gritters and sweepers included, so it bears on winter roads as well as bins. The council has not given a completion date for the workshop.

The contract runs to 2030. The Contracts Finder record shows a five-year term to 10 July 2030, so the supply arrangement outlasts the November 2027 delivery target the council has set for the 52 trucks. Roadworks are one of the three causes of disrupted collections the council lists; the current closures are on our Northumberland roadworks and travel page.