PLANS for a multi million "advanced fuel centre" to use green fuel to power Bradford's bin fleet has been put on hold.

Announced by Bradford Council with much fanfare in 2020, the centre would be built at the  Bowling Back Lane waste site, and use compressed gas to fuel a new generation of vehicles such as bin wagons.

It would be a key part of the push to shift the Council's fleet from petrol and diesel to more environmentally friendly fuel.

But at a meeting of the Council's Regeneration and Environment Scrutiny Committee on Tuesday night, members were told that the plans were now on hold due to a number of issues, including the suitability of the site of the planned centre and the lengthy waiting list for gas powered vehicles.

When first announced, the Council said the aim was for its light goods vehicles, such as vans, to become electric in the coming years. The larger vehicles, such as bin wagons, would switch to compressed gas.

The Bowling Back Lane site would tap into the gas network to create a filling station for these vehicles, and private companies would also be able to use the site.

The cost of the development would likely have been over £2m.

At Tuesday's meeting Councillor Debbie Davies (Cons, Baildon) asked for an update on the filling station plan.

Richard Galthern, principle officer for waste services, said: "There were a lot of issues around the site - issues with the land we were hoping to build on.

"It was found that the land would likely require piling work that could cost into the millions of pounds.

"There were also issues around the vehicles themselves. They are not widely used in the UK at the moment. There is a two year wait from the point of order to delivery.

"Also the Shearbridge depot (where the Council's fleet of vehicles are kept) would need altering. At the moment it is just about fit for purpose, but if we switched the vehicles it would require a multi million pound retrofit.

"When the original plan was drawn up we didn't have all these details."

Jason Longhurst, strategic director of place, said the Council was developing a strategic view on how to "de-carbonise" its vehicle fleet, and a major part of that would be ensuring the right infrastructure was in place first.

The advanced fuel centre is the second green initiative to be paused by Bradford Council in recent months.

Last month the Council revealed that a "civic quarter heat scheme" - which would use green energy to heat numerous city centre buildings, was "currently suspended" due to recent changes to Government funding for such large scale heating projects.