Waste collection firm Sita is to be hauled before councillors again to explain its performance.

The company, which is responsible for collecting rubbish in Brighton and Hove, has already appeared before council chiefs once after a string of complaints about its service.

Although the situation has improved in the past six weeks, Brighton and Hove Council is still not satisfied.

The complaints reached their peak when refuse collectors struggled to cope with newly-introduced rounds.

Thousands of people complained that their bins had not been emptied and their streets were dirty.

A scrutiny board heard the firm had made strides in the last month and there were more to come.

But Sita is still being told its performance is not good enough. It has been called back to the next board meeting in December.

Sita is still working on equalising the work on each of the new rounds following complaints from some staff that rounds were impossible to finish in time.

It has introduced one new round in the centre of Brighton to improve the service there and has employed more street sweeping staff.

The firm has also invested in new equipment including machines to suck up autumn leaves swiftly and efficiently.

But Councillor Christine Simpson, who chairs the scrutiny board, said: "We are still not happy.

"We are asking Sita representatives to come back to our next meeting to see if things have improved."

Figures before the meeting showed that most of the remaining problems are in the north of Brighton.

The numbers of complaints, and the number of missed collections, are now returning to levels similar to those before the August changes.

But Coun Simpson said: "Some more improvement is still needed."

Nobody from Sita was available for comment, although the firm has previously admitted its performance was not good enough.