Kingston Councils floundering environmental services department could be rescued by the arrival of a new boss to keep control of its wayward contractors.

It is hoped that newly appointed director of environmental services, Davendra Saksena, 51, will be able to improve the performance of contractors SITA and Continental Landscapes who are responsible for rubbish collection, street cleaning and gardening.

Mr Saksena has worked for Nottingham City Council for the last 10 years as an assistant director and has been in local government since the early 80s.

He said: I am delighted to be joining a forward looking, pro-active organisation and am encouraged by what has already been achieved in Kingston.

I recognise that environmental issues will continue to provide major challenges to our communities in the future, so I do look forward to being at the forefront of change.

Those challenges were evident at a packed meeting of Surbiton neighbourhood committee last week, when Steve Green, SITAs regional operations manager, was in the hot seat.

Since the contract was awarded to SITA, residents have complained about irregular collections, the poor standard of street cleaning and rude employees.

Recognising the general hostile sentiment, Mr Green said: Standards of late have not been as they should be and we have put in an action plan to address that.

He promised he was working to turn around the companys performance in all aspects of the refuse/street cleaning contract, which by all accounts has been less than satisfactory.

Some of the residents problems have been caused by staff leaving the company in droves, a situation which is to be addressed.

Mr Green added that SITA is introducing customer care training for all employees and specific training for street cleansing staff to raise standards.

From now on, all complaints received will be followed-up and customers contacted at a later date to make sure the problem has been resolved.

Mr Saksena will face difficult problems in his new job but council chief executive Bruce McDonald said: Davendras background demonstrates that he has been a key player in times of substantial change.

He has developed close relationships with elected members and the community leaders whom he has served.

By.David Rankin