NORTH Somerset Council has described more than 1,000 defective or incompleted jobs by one of its contractors as just 'teething problems'. Wyevale Grounds Maintenance has a five-year £10million contract with the authority to carry out work and maintenance

NORTH Somerset Council has described more than 1,000 defective or incompleted jobs by one of its contractors as just 'teething problems'.Wyevale Grounds Maintenance has a five-year £10million contract with the authority to carry out work and maintenance on the council's parks and sports fields.The ground maintenance company has been ordered to complete a total of 1,046 jobs such as grass cutting and cleaning up litter that have not been done on time since the contract started in February 2005.A total of 222 of these jobs were then still not completed on time after a new deadline. This led to North Somerset Council placing £13,300 of fines on Wyevale.Questions about Wyevale's performance were put to Councillor Deborah Yamanaka, the council's executive member for Environment and Community, at a council meeting by the late Cllr Glyn Duck.Cllr Derek Kraft said the council has to get tough on contractors who are not doing their job.He said: "We need some more groin kickers in the council as outside companies run rings around us."The council needs to get tougher with harsher penalties for contractors who do not perform as ground maintenance standards have dropped over the years. Glyn was hot on this and it's something the council needs to look at."Wyevale and North Somerset Council said in a joint statement that there had been teething problems and they were working to overcome them.They said: "The majority of defaults have been issued as a result of delays on grass cutting duties which include strimming and litter picking."Cllr Yamanka was contacted but refused to comment on Wyevale's performance.