Communication and Engagement Annual Overview 2025/2026

This report provides an overview of Communications and Engagement performance during financial year 2025/2026.

As well as highlights of the work carried out it also includes statistics and data from across our communications channels.

• Social media audience grew by 8%
• Childminder recruitment campaign resulted in 10 new candidates starting the official process
• Intranet replacement project completed 
• Promotion of BetterPoints app led to nearly 100,000 less car journeys locally - saving an estimated 31.5 tonnes of CO₂ emissions
• Illustration and design of new gates and fencing for Mugdock Park walled garden.

The Communications and Engagement team provide communications support and guidance, manages the Council’s reputation and ensures both external and internal audiences are aware of and understand service delivery and any subsequent changes, key developments and decisions.

The team supports all service areas by ensuring the delivery of essential messages to target audiences across various relevant channels, and in facilitating effective and co-ordinated consultation and engagement. The Communications and Engagement team also support East Dunbartonshire Leisure and Culture Trust, East Dunbartonshire Health and Social Care Partnership and provides expertise, support and guidance to all schools in the area.

Priorities in 2025/2026 included delivering comprehensive communication activity for the Local Government By-election, the introduction of Pavement Parking enforcement, Balmuildy, Bearsden and Milngavie Primary Schools’ projects, the opening of Twechar Outdoor Pursuits Centre, Lennoxtown Regeneration project and the Civic Office.

Key areas include:

• Reputation management and Crisis Communications
• Engagement with regional and national resilience networks
• Digital communications (social media and website)
• Media Relations 
• Internal communication and employee engagement 
• Design
• Consultation and Engagement 
• Accessibility.

Effective communications planning is a critical part in supporting the Council’s strategic priorities. It ensures messages are conveyed to our target audiences in a timely manner. The overall aim of our messaging is to ensure public understanding of relevant projects and service delivery plans including any changes to be implemented. It also raises awareness of positive projects across the area aimed at improving or introducing initiatives for the benefit of the communities we work in.

The Communications and Engagement team support Council and Service Committees ensuring decisions are effectively communicated to residents. This includes reviewing Council and Committee reports, engaging with Conveners and lead officers, and effectively promoting decisions and developments online and through appropriate media networks.

Communications Plans are prepared for all crucial Council project delivery including projects within the capital programme, changes to services/delivery and key initiatives in support of the Council’s priorities aimed at residents and/or employees. Plans include both external and internal communications requirements and online and offline activity.

Media relations remain an important tool for reputational management, and for advising residents and businesses in the local area of service updates and campaigns.

During 2025/2026, a total of 114 media releases were issued, 50 photocalls organised and 259 media enquiries dealt with.

The team continues to engage with local, regional and national news outlets for both proactive and reactive media activity. The local media coverage (Kirkintilloch Herald and Milngavie and Bearsden Herald) achieved from those proactive releases equated to a total of £85,333 if the Council had purchased that coverage through advertising. The news section of the new website received 44,539 views.

The Council has five social media accounts – Facebook, X, LinkedIn, Instagram and YouTube. These are key communication channels ensuring that our messaging is seen by thousands of residents. As well as those residents that follow us, our posts are consistently shared by local community groups, local organisations and businesses and Community Councils.

The Communications and Engagement team manage these channels through a social media management tool which retains an audit trail of who posts to the accounts and when. It enables the team to schedule posts at appropriate times of day and provides analytics on each channel.

Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and YouTube continue to grow while X remains consistent. All channels effectively allow us to share information on important updates, service delivery, key projects, initiatives and campaigns. All channels are also used to encourage participation in consultation and engagement activity when relevant. 

Facebook

By the end of 2025/2026, our Facebook channel had 27,612 followers, an increase of 1,803 on the year before. Facebook also results in the most traffic to our website of any of our social media channels with just over 59,000 views coming directly from Facebook posts.

X

While changes to the platform have led to a decrease in users, by the end of the year our channel had 19,828 followers, a drop of only 440.

LinkedIn

Content posted on LinkedIn has a particular focus. This is mainly capital programme projects, recruitment and economic development initiatives in order to engage with stakeholders, partners, residents and employees. By the end of the year there were 4,907 followers, an increase of 14% on last year.

Instagram 

This channel continued to grow and by the end of the year followers had increased to 1,538, a 30% increase on last year.

YouTube

Another channel that has grown and we now have 864 subscribers, a 20% increase on last year.

Table 2 below highlights the follower numbers the Council has on each platform.

Further statistics that showcase the performance of our channels include:

• Reach - 6,742,655
• Positive Sentiment – 22.7
• Engagement Rate:
  • Facebook 0.87%
  • LinkedIn 2.7%
  • Instagram 1.31%
  • X 1.61%.

Table 3 to Table 6 below provide a breakdown of the key metrics by Quarter. 

The top three most seen posts on Facebook were:

• Here’s a sneak peak of what is coming to Bishopbriggs Park in 2026 - 121,317 reach / 481 reactions / 220 comments / 42 shares / no link
• The specialist BMX track at Langfaulds Park in Bearsden has had a fantastic upgrade ahead of the summer holiday - 105,507 reach / 161 reactions / 74 comments / 13 shares / no link
• AMBER WEATHER WARNING - STORM FLORIS – 104,978 reach/ 140 reactions / 20 comments / 87 shares / 265 link clicks.

The top three on X were:

• Last night East Dunbartonshire Council approved a budget for 2026/2027 - 6,226 impressions / 2 likes / 15 comments / -0 retweets / no link
• The Ward 3 by-election results are in - 5,597 impressions / 4 likes / 3 comments / 5 retweets / 949 link clicks
• EMERGENCY ROAD CLOSURE Due to a police incident at The Devils Pulpit, Stockiemuir Road at Crossburn Road roundabout is currently closed - 3,902 impressions / 2 likes / 1 comments / 1 retweets / no link.

The top three posts on LinkedIn were about planning permission being granted for phase 5 of the Bishopbriggs Relief Road, the £31.5m rebuild planned for Balmuildy Primary School in Bishopbriggs taking a step forward and a video of some drone footage of the work going on at Milngavie Primary School.

Instagram’s top three posts were about the completion of work to remove RAAC from the roof of Bearsden Community Hub, a video about the introduction of phase two of the Council’s Traffic-free Schools project and the start of the pavement parking ban enforcement. 

Further positive news relating to a glowing report for Millersneuk Primary School, the start of the national pavement parking ban enforcement and a schools competition to name some of our gritters also proved popular with residents.

The Council website is a crucial communication channel for the Council providing essential information and allowing residents to report, request and pay for services online.

In 2025/2026 there was a total of 2,236,248 website visits with 2,375,923 page views as indicated in Table 7 below.

Table 8 (above) highlights that most visitors to the Council website use a mobile phone rather than a desktop/laptop computer to visit the website. The figures show that there has been a 14% increase in mobile usage in the last year.

Most visitors to the website use search engines to find the information they need with over 1.6 million visits made in this way. Direct traffic is the second most popular traffic source, with over 320,000 visits, meaning visitors know the web address and use it directly.

The most popular page on the Council website for 2025/2026 was Household Waste and recycling centres. The majority of the top ten are related to Waste – this is mainly due to changes to waste collections, the garden waste permit and the introduction of a new bin collection scheduling tool.

Table 9 below summarises the page views and page visits for the top ten pages. Views is defined by the total number of times a page is looked at, whilst Visits is when someone goes to the webpage and then looks at more than one page.

The Communications & Engagement team also maintain and update the East Dunbartonshire Health & Social Care Partnership (HSCP) website and the East Dunbartonshire Leisure & Culture Trust (EDLC) website. This centralised service also provides support to all East Dunbartonshire schools by maintaining and regularly updating their websites. As well as this the team also update and maintain the Employee Zone. In 2025/2026 over 2,200 updates were carried out by the team on these sites.

Design remains a popular and important tool for the Council to convey messages in an engaging way that resonates with the public.
The Council’s design service had 690 jobs in 2025/2026. The work carried out is a mix of video, social media graphics, signage, posters and documents. As well as one-off projects including Mugdock Park gates and fencing.

The top two most watched videos on YouTube were ‘Budget Consultation 2026/27 – Have your say’ - 10.1 hours viewed / 686 video views and ‘The meeting of East Dunbartonshire Council on Thursday 5 March 2026’ - 218.5 hours viewed / 462 video views.

The top videos on Facebook were ‘A sneak peek of the refurbished Campsie Memorial Hall’ – 3,300 mins viewed / 31,042 video views, ‘The return of Red Squirrels to Mugdock Country Park’ - 2,400 mins viewed / 20,630 video views and ‘Right bin? Put it in! A guide to what you can recycle in East Dunbartonshire’ – 3,780 mins views / 19,727 video views.

Other videos created to promote key projects, services and campaigns included applying for garden waste permits, save time pay it online, applying for a blue badge online, the opening of Health Hubs and playparks openings.

Currently, there are 844 subscribers to the official East Dunbartonshire Council YouTube channel and in 2025/26 there were 22,727 views of our videos resulting in 1,100 hours watched.

In 2025/26 there were 590,985 views of our videos on Facebook resulting in 63,960 minutes watched.

Campaigns raise awareness and encourage call to action and behavioural change, but they also help to build reputation and trust.

A number of campaigns took place including supporting Mugdock Country Park with income generating events, call to action drives directing people to Save Time Do it Online, apply for the Community Grants Scheme and sign up to become a childminder. There were also campaigns regarding reporting graffiti, raising awareness of scammers and a name the gritter competition.

Messages supporting national awareness campaigns such as Challenge Poverty Week, LGBT History Month, Parkinsons, Baby Loss Awareness, 16 Days Against Gender Based Violence and Cerebral Palsy also play an important role.

Internal Communications are essential in ensuring relevant updates are received by the Council’s workforce allowing them to understand key decisions and feel connected to the wider organisation.

Established tools - Leadership Information Packs, Chief Executive updates, Employee News and All User Emails – are used to distribute messages. 

In 2025/2026 a total of 30 Employee News were issued. As well as being emailed to those on the Council network, they are also published to the Employee Zone of the Council website so that line managers and colleagues can share with those who are not on the network.

Regular updates to the whole workforce, including a roundup of the key achievements, news and Council decisions are delivered monthly through the Chief Executive’s Update.

The successful migration of the Council’s employee intranet from The Hub to the Employee Zone - including auditing, user testing, manual content migration and implementation of a new structure – was also completed.

The Communications and Engagement team supports all Council services in the implementation and delivery of the Consultation and Engagement Strategy. In line with the principles of ‘we asked, you said, we did’ the Communications and Engagement team support services in the planning and promotion (we asked) of the consultation and post consultation reporting to ensure the results (you said) and findings/actions (we did) are effectively communicated.

Services include all planned consultation activity in their Business and Improvement Plans (BIPs) so an action plan can be produced each year.

The plan allows the Communications and Engagement team to effectively plan and promote the delivery of consultation activity. Working with services, the team offers guidance and expertise, prepares and creates surveys, develop webpages and plans effective promotion to the target audience. The Action Plan allows timescales to be explored and potential clashes to be avoided. Ultimately the plan and subsequent work is aimed at encouraging participation.

In 2025/2026 the team supported services across the Council with 18 consultations and HSCP with two.

Topics included Bishopbriggs taxi stance, Twechar pump track, rent setting, Equality outcomes, Food Growing strategy and the 2026/2027 Council Budget.

A full list can be found within the Consultation section of the website.

Once a consultation closes, results and data are sent to the service to analyse. Thank you and update messages to the relevant audience are posted on the appropriate webpage and posted on social media. A post consultation report detailing online engagement and other key statistics is also completed and sent to the service for information. Once the service is in the position to publish its findings and/or the report that was guided by the consultation, the Communications and Engagement team ensure this is available on the website and subsequent promotion is carried out.

The Transport (Scotland) Act 2019 prohibits pavement parking, double parking, and parking across dropped kerbs nationally. The Council approved the Pavement Parking legislation update in December 2023 with implementation beginning in September 2025. Enforcement of the Pavement Parking ban would affect all residents and visitors to East Dunbartonshire that had, or had use of, a vehicle, which meant it was essential we carried out a range of communication activity, both online and offline.

The aim of communications for this project was to ensure residents know: 

• The legislation has been approved by Council and will start to be enforced from September 2025
• There are a small number of streets in the area that will be exempt and certain exceptions to the ban are permitted under the Act
• They could face a fine of up to £100 if they ignore the legislation.

Key Messages

• The start of enforcement brings the Council in line with others across the country
• Pavement parking is unsafe, unfair and illegal and you risk getting fined up to £100
• Many people face daily difficulties with pavement parking and can force people to take unnecessary risks. It is dangerous and frustrating, especially for those with impairments or limited mobility and with mental health challenges.

Phase 1 of the campaign was pre-implementation and focused on ensuring the start date of enforcement reached as many residents as possible. Phase 2 was implementation and management and focused on ensuring residents were aware the pavement parking ban was now in place, and in making sure they were aware of potential fines they could face.

A combination of online and offline actions were carried out including:

• Media release
• Social Media
• Dedicated webpage
• Posters in key venues
• Insert in Council Tax letter
• Parents/Carer letter
• Customer Services telephone message.

The webpage gained over 10,000 views during the campaign with a further 588 online views of the news release. Coverage of the release featured in the Kirkintilloch Herald, Milngavie & Bearsden Herald, Glasgow News and GB News.

A total of 14 posts across all social media platforms led to 234,303 impressions, 700 Reactions, 1,431 Comments, 290 Shares, 3,581 click throughs, and an engagement rate of 2.1%.

A series of posters were created advising when enforcement was due to begin and included a QR code linking to the webpage. Forty of these were printed and distributed to Community Hubs, Community Centres, Libraries, Leisure Centres, Town Halls, Galleries and Museums. Two standalone letters which included key information on the enforcement of the ban were sent to schools to distribute to all parents and carers at the end of the school year in June 2025 and again at the start of the new school year in August 2025. A bespoke message informing those calling Customer Services of the enforcement implementation date was live between July and September 2025.

Both Communications and Engagement and Customer Services worked hard to answer online queries via social media quickly in order to support residents. The statistics from social media highlight that residents were discussing the Pavement Parking ban and sharing information with family, friends and neighbours ensuring word-of-mouth communication throughout the area. The Community Safety team were told by a number of residents that they were aware of the ban enforcement and the amount of correspondence on the subject from residents to the Council since the start of September also supports this. The range of online and offline tools ensured households were made aware of the start of enforcement, the exemptions that would be in place and of the potential fines they could face. The success of the campaign was evident due to the compliance shown by drivers and minimal complaints or enquiries from residents.

The Communications and Engagement team will continue to support all communications and engagement requirements for the Council through effective communications planning, reputation management, media management, social media management, internal communications, campaigns and design work and consultation and engagement activity.

The key focus for the team for 2026/2027 will include effective communication plans for projects within the capital programme, promotion of Westerhill Regeneration Area, delivery of a waste campaign, an updated internal communications strategy and ongoing support for the Civic Office.