I was fascinated by director of the environment Jenny Rowlands giving the impression that since CityClean put hair-brained schemes in place, such as oversized communal containers and dwarf wheelie bins, the populace has never been happier (Letters, October 4).

She claimed 70 per cent of people were satisfied with refuse collection in 2003/04 as opposed to a mere 44 per cent in 2000/01.

If one were of a charitable disposition, one might only accuse her of slightly misrepresenting the facts.

The Best Value Review Of Waste Management 2002 (available on our web site, www.brightonbeautiful.com) found 70 per cent of people were satisfied with refuse collection in early 2002, after the removal of the disastrous Sita, and thus this satisfaction has nothing to do with recent "innovations" by CityClean.

Interestingly, this same council report found that 85 per cent of households in Brighton and Hove had somewhere to store their refuse prior to collection, so why the huge need for containerisation?

In reality Ms Rowlands has presided over a department which has alienated thousands of residents and its own workforce, has spent the past few years haemorrhaging millions of pounds of taxpayers' money (CityClean's budget has risen from £7 million in 2001 to £22.5 million this year) and delivered false reports to residents and the council alike.

When is this council going to start being run by intelligent, local, business-minded people rather than the rabble our city has been forced to suffer, the exceptions to which can be counted on the fingers of

one hand?

-Tony Davies, Brighton