Council bosses today acted to bring to an end to the rubbish crisis across Brighton and Hove.

Council chief executive Glynn Jones has summoned senior Sita managers to a meeting of its powerful scrutiny board, warning: "The time for excuses is over."

They will be asked to explain why household refuse remains uncollected and streets are awash with litter.

In a strongly-worded statement, Mr Jones said residents had a right to expect a better performance from its contractors.

He said: "We have told their management at the very highest level that we are not satisfied with the company's performance.

"We have demanded that they pull out all the stops to get the refuse collected from every home in the area on the day they say they will collect it - cleanly and efficiently.

"Sita has had ten months under the new contract and their operation should be ship-shape by now."

Rubbish has been left uncollected and streets unswept in the wake of a change in refuse and street cleaning arrangements in Brighton and Hove.

Angry Liberal Democrats have tabled a motion of no confidence in the Labour-run council for its handling of the crisis.

Sita director Matt Taylor said the company was working to address the problems. He said fulfilling the Brighton and Hove contract had proved more difficult than Sita had first suspected. He said: "This was mainly to do with the two town's having their own refuse collection staff before we took over.

"Trying to unify the two workforces and bring them together under the same terms and conditions has not been easy."

A statement from the company added: "Although we have inherited a difficult situation, we had hoped an agreement signed between the workforce and the union - which became effective on August 1 - would lead to a more settled period.

"Appropriate resources have now been put in place to enable the job to be carried out, but the agreement relies on the co-operation of all the parties involved."