NEWCASTLE City Council is to replace its depot-based 350 light diesel vans - almost half the fleet - with vehicles designed to run on liquefied petroleum gas. The first batch of 12 LPG Ford Transits from a total of 51 scheduled for this year has been delivered and a further 76 are to be replaced in 2001 with the balance of 223 LPG LCVs in service by 2005.