SOUTHAMPTON City Council is set to save £40,000 through a new storage deal.

It has signed a four-year deal with Meachers Global Logistics to transfer records from five offices around the city to the latter’s 200sqm sustainable distribution centre (SDC) in the Nursling industrial estate.

The agreement provides the council with space to hold 300 pallets worth of paperwork that will be stored using a special barcode system to allow quick retrieval.

Frank Baxter, head of transport, highways and parking at the council, said: “The SDC enables us to manage our storage requirements more efficiently and effectively through providing cheap flexible storage options that can be built around our changing needs.”

Gary Whittle, commercial director at Meachers, said: “The SDC provides smart storage and delivery solutions for public sector organisations.

Goods are stored on the edge of town and delivered on demand by light goods vehicles.”

Southampton General Hospital is also using the SDC, storing non-essential items from furniture to drip stands.