How Good is Our Service - December 2025

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Voids performance in December is at 88%, which is down from 91% in November, however it is above our target of 85%.  We continue to assess and enhance operational processes with a view to improving and maintaining performance in this area moving forward. 

Property Maintenance have achieved our target of 100% for Gas Servicing in December with 285 properties serviced in the month.  We continue to achieve our target each month, and we are confident this will continue throughout 2025/26. 

Non-Emergency repairs performance in December exceeds our target of 12 days with an average turnaround of 10.74 days for the month, which is down from 7 days in November.  We continue to work towards improving and maintaining performance in this area going forward. 

Kitchen, Bathroom, Heating and Roofing upgrade programmes are ongoing, and progress continues in carrying out reactive and refurbishment works across the education and non-housing stock, with decoration works ongoing across the school estate. 

Voids performance in December is at 88%, which is down from 91% in November, however it is above our target of 85%.  We continue to assess and enhance operational processes with a view to improving and maintaining performance in this area moving forward. 

Property Maintenance have achieved our target of 100% for Gas Servicing in December with 285 properties serviced in the month.  We continue to achieve our target each month, and we are confident this will continue throughout 2025/26. 

Non-Emergency repairs performance in December exceeds our target of 12 days with an average turnaround of 10.74 days for the month, which is down from 7 days in November.  We continue to work towards improving and maintaining performance in this area going forward. 

Kitchen, Bathroom, Heating and Roofing upgrade programmes are ongoing, and progress continues in carrying out reactive and refurbishment works across the education and non-housing stock, with decoration works ongoing across the school estate. 

The Service continues to progress a wide range of capital projects both in pre-construction and construction phases.  

The Stage 2 report for the Westerhill Development Road project, which sought approval to proceed to the construction phase of the project (subject to agreement by the City Region of the wider City Deal Final Business Case) was approved by Council in December 2025.  The target construction start remains Easter 2026, pending approval from the City Region.  In the meantime, final design and pre-construction actions are in progress for the project.

Works continue to progress at Bearsden Community Hub to remove and replace RAAC from the roof on the extension at the rear of the building (completion expected in January 2026) and refurbishments of Milngavie Primary School (completion July 2026); and through the construction of a replacement Balmuildy Primary School.  Works are also progressing at Torrance Community Centre, which continues to have a revised completion date of April 2026.  

Council approved the Stage 1 report for the Lenzie Academy project in December 2025.  The submission of the project planning application is expected to follow in early 2026.  The Stage 1 report for the Milngavie Early Years project was also approved by Council in December 2025 and the project planning application has now been submitted.

Feasibility design continues to progress in support of the Accommodation Strategy and for proposals to introduce all-weather sports provision and upgraded changing pavilions at Oakburn Park, Milngavie.  

The Service continues to develop the next phase of a building decarbonisation strategy for the school estate, operational estate and for the existing affordable housing stock, with a variety of surveys, pilot projects and further feasibility reviews planned throughout the remainder of this and next financial year.  

The delivery of several areas of on-going capital investment across the Council’s existing Affordable Housing stock continue, including several significant measures to improve Housing Quality and Energy Efficiency.  Preparations are underway for the next round of the Council’s energy efficiency improvements to its housing stock with works expected to start in mid-2026 and the first phase of the 25/26 Mixed Tenure roofing programme is planned to start imminently.  

The pre-construction phase of the next stage of the Council’s New-Build Affordable Housing programme continues to progress.  Planning submissions have been made for sites at Main Street in Torrance and the site of the former Auchinairn Primary School.  The demolition of the former Auchinairn Primary School is now underway and due for completion in March 2026; the demolition of the remaining flats at Nithsdale Crescent, Bearsden is currently at tender stage with a contractor expected to be appointed in early 2026.  

 At Twechar Canalside, the construction of 15no. affordable Passivhaus houses continues to make good progress. 

• Achieved 100% compliance for Gas Servicing with focus on this continuing going forward
• Kitchen, Bathroom, Central Heating and Roofing upgrade programmes ongoing with positive feedback being received from tenants across all contracts
• Positive level of performance in non-emergency repairs turnaround times with our focus being on maintaining and improving further in this area moving forward
• Continue to focus on enhancing voids operational processes with the objective being to increase and maintain performance in this are going forward
• Improved functionality of Total Mobile and the integration with Servitor enables a more streamlined and efficient service. Further upgrades are due to take place in the coming weeks.
• Improve communications with customers and stakeholders to ensure the highest level of service delivery
• Continue to utilise robust reporting mechanisms for enhanced performance and service delivery
• Progress decoration works across the school estate.
• 100% of Operational Assets requiring a Gas Safety check within the year’s anniversary of the previous check are completed
• Schedule in the upcoming Gas Safety Checks with contractors which are required during January and February
• Improve uptake of nutritious school meals
• Improve communications with customers and stakeholders to ensure the highest level of service delivery
• Reduce FM overtime.

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The Community Protection Service delivers on a broad statutory remit, with delivery measures centred on protecting public health and safety, well-being and consumer protection. During December 2025, the service continued to engage in the local Co-Production arrangement with Police Scotland, with regular community harm and risk meetings being held to provide the focus for joint work and activity to protect local communities across the East Dunbartonshire area. The service also continued to develop intelligence led approaches for all areas of work to target local public health, community safety and consumer protection activity towards the areas of greatest need, risk and priority.

Throughout the reporting period, Environmental Health played a key role in delivering essential public health services, fulfilling a wide range of statutory responsibilities aimed to protect the community from environmental risks, and to support the development of responsible business.  The work encompassed both proactive work such as routine inspections for food safety and reactive responses to environmental public health complaints and service requests.  Work was undertaken for several animal-related businesses such as pet shops who were due their routine licence compliance checks.  

The Community Safety Team continued to deliver a broad range of front-line work for the benefit of local communities during the reporting period, working closely with a range of colleagues and key partners to successfully deliver appropriate interventions and to make our local communities safer. Officers from the team were engaged in the delivery of services in relation to community engagement/support, antisocial behaviour, neighbour disputes, environmental incivilities, dog control, decriminalised parking enforcement, fly-tipping, pest control, and mobile CCTV. The team continued to deliver enforcement work in relation to the new Transport (Scotland) Act 2019 parking prohibitions relating to pavement, double and dropped kerb parking recently introduced across the Council area. Parking enforcement activity to support the traffic free schools’ pilot and all other school areas was also prevalent during the month. 
 
The Trading Standards and Licensing Enforcement Team were engaged in the delivery of essential consumer protection and licensing services to local consumers and businesses to maintain and protect a fair-trading environment in East Dunbartonshire. During December, Trading Standards continued delivering project work on the testing and compliance of medical weighing devices.  Licensing Advisors were engaged in co-production visits with Police Scotland, visiting on-sale premises on a business support and festive awareness basis. Licensing Standards also issued a notice of liquor licence removal for an off-sale premise resulting from licence condition infringements and a Licensing Board review. Trading Standards Officers continued to investigate the supply of trade-mark infringing goods within the East Dunbartonshire Council area liaising with industry and partner organisations.  Trading Standards Officers and Police Scotland carried out a joint visit to retail premises which intelligence had linked to the supply of illicit tobacco resulting in a significant seizure of goods.

The Community Vaccination programme remain ongoing, supporting the health and wellbeing of our residents.  Two weekly clinics are being delivered in Kirkintilloch Town Hall and Milngavie Town Hall, in collaboration with Greater Glasgow and Clyde NHS board.

The Resettlement Team remains strongly committed to providing compassionate, tailored support to families arriving through humanitarian programmes.  Alongside this, partnership working with local organisations has enabled the delivery of targeted engagement sessions for asylum seekers currently living in East Dunbartonshire.  Further connecting community conversations are planned, aimed at supporting individuals to build local connections and accessing appropriate services and opportunities, including volunteering.

Community development activity continues to take a proactive approach, including progress on planning and delivery of part two of the Health Issues in the Community Course.

Round two of the community grant scheme has opened, with the team continuing to offer capacity-building support to applicants.  Due diligence checks and scoring are currently underway in preparation for discussion with the Grants Advisory Committee.

Alongside current activity, the team is actively coordinating the development of the new CLD Plan 2025-27, including the Local Child Poverty Action Report.

In partnership with the CLD Workforce Development group, planning is underway for the next practitioner gathering.  The event will focus on building capacity, sharing practice and reinforcing the delivery of actions set out in the draft CLD Plan 2025-27.

The team is also working collaboratively with colleagues in Asset Management and Legal Services to promote greater awareness of the Community Asset Transfer Policy, and associated processes, while progressing current CAT requests and enquiries.

New Equality Outcomes have now been approved, and the team is supporting the establishment of the Equality Action Planning Forum.  This will provide internal mechanisms to ensure that outcomes are effectively embedded within service delivery.

The Wellness Kitchen programme continues to develop positively, with session demonstrating positive impact.  They help to strengthen social connections, build local skills and confidence, and support individual resilience.  Participants consistently report positive impact on wellbeing.

Housing manages 3,897 social rented properties; 3,813 of these are mainstream accommodation and 84 are used for Homeless Temporary Accommodation.  The service also manages 49 Lead Tenancies which are rented from either private landlords (28) or Housing Associations (21), to assist with accommodating homeless households.

At present, the Housing list for East Dunbartonshire has 3,440 applications - made up of the following:

General Waiting list 
2,568 applicants waiting (1 of which are on offer)

(Applicants who have somewhere to stay i.e., they are owner occupiers, a tenant of a private let, stay care of family etc. This queue allows the applicant to choose which area, house type etc they would like to move to).

Transfer waiting list    
618 applicants (11 of which are on offer)

(Council or Housing Association tenants who are looking to move to another Council or Housing Association property, either for a different size, or, for a different area. This queue allows the tenant to choose which area, house type etc. they would like to move to).

Priority waiting list      
 252 applicants (18 of which are on offer) 
(Homeless)
(Applicants who have no accommodation or will have nowhere to stay within the next 2 months. This queue does not allow the applicant to choose area or house type).

Priority waiting list        
2 applicants (0 of which are on offer)
(Urgent medical)
(Applicants who are unable to remain in their current home due to their medical condition. This queue allows the applicant to choose which area, house type etc. they would like to move to).

Within the last month, 10 properties were allocated, all of which were general needs mainstream type properties.

They were let to the following queues:

• 5 to the priority homeless queue
• 3 to the transfer queue
• 2 to the general waiting list queue

Environmental Health, Trading Standards and Community Safety Teams

• Delivery of effective services on a flexible basis to meet all statutory requirements and duties in relation to public health, community safety, consumer protection and licensing enforcement matters
• Delivery of local Co-Production activity between Community Protection and Police Scotland, with particular focus on effective tasking processes and the delivery of joint action plans and work to protect the communities of East Dunbartonshire
• Delivery of Business Improvement Plan activity relating to Community Protection - actions being implemented in accordance with set targets to deliver effective services in line with relevant corporate outcomes and with positive performance being reported
• Delivery of regulatory services that assist with economic recovery and that are designed to support local businesses and communities
• Officers attended an evening workshop hosted by Scotland’s Futures Forum at the Scottish Parliament exploring the future of food and local action for Good Food Nation Plans
• Food Standards Scotland hosted a meeting with East Dunbartonshire Council and Glasgow City Council offering initial feedback on the European Commission Audit of Export Poultry that occurred in November with the overall outcome being positive
• Officers attended a seminar held by the Scottish Government on the proposed air quality exposure reduction targets which aim to further reduce pollutant levels towards World Health Organisation guidelines
• During the investigation of a rat infestation, officers liaised with a local shopkeeper in Kirkintilloch to clear a significant accumulation of waste and vegetation from the private back court area of shops
• Delivery of parking enforcement activity to support the traffic free schools’ pilot and all other school areas
• Delivery of decriminalised parking enforcement activity in relation to recently introduced parking restrictions across the authority relating to pavement, double and dropped kerb parking
• On-going Community Warden activity under the MCR Pathways national programme, with 4 officers now actively mentoring local school children
• Delivery of targeted dog fouling patrols and initiatives across a range of parks, open spaces and other known issue areas within East Dunbartonshire
• Additional Community Warden patrols in and around our town centres and retail parks during the festive period
• Officers across the Community Protection teams visited several seasonal market operators to conduct compliance checks with traders, with remedial action being required in several cases
• On-going promotion of the East Dunbartonshire Trusted Trader scheme through relevant channels, with the aim of attracting further local traders to join the scheme
• Request for review of Liquor Licence submitted to Licensing Board resulting in revocation of the premise licence
• Detection and seizure of illicit tobacco concealed within a retail premise
• Examination and follow up investigation after a significant seizure of multiple fashion items believed to be infringing registered trademarks, investigation ongoing
• Submission of logs to the National Intelligence Database for Trading Standards with contribution to the wider national and cross authority picture.

Community Planning and Partnerships Team

• Working alongside Greater Glasgow and Clyde NHS colleagues, the Community Vaccination Programme continues to be delivered successfully, ensuring ongoing access to vaccinations within local neighbourhoods
• A programme of wellness kitchens sessions took place during the period, engaging families and young tenants.  These sessions supported skill development, boosted confidence and strengthened social connections across different groups.  Opportunities to extend this work in partnership with third sector organisations are currently being explored to further enhance wellbeing outcomes
• The team has continued to support he CLD Strategic Partnership in shaping the draft CLD Plan 2025-27, contributing to its ongoing development and alignment with local priorities
• Community users of Auchinairn Community Centre re being supported to identify shared priorities and agree collaborative actions.  These incudes maximising the use of available space and progressing plans for the community garden
• The Resettlement Team and Community Planning Partnership Team have agreed new team plans, that closely align with the Council’s strategic priorities.  They continue to work in strong partnership with local and national organisations
• In addition, the Resettlement Team continue to collaborative with internal services to deliver dedicated welcome and connecting communities event programmes for asylum seekers living locally, supporting early understanding of services and strengthening community connections
• In partnership with VAWG Partnership, the team co-delivered a successful programme of 16 Days of Activism, specifically targeting the Deaf community.  These events supported stronger connections, improved engagement and shared awareness of preventing violence against women and girls, as well as clearer insights into lived experience.

Housing Services - Operations & Estates Team and Homelessness & Prevention Teams

• The Estates team received 6 new Reports of anti-social behaviour during the month of December
• There were 2 nominations from the Housing waiting list sent to a Registered Social Landlord operating in East Dunbartonshire to be considered for allocation to their housing stock Discussions are ongoing with Clyde Valley Housing Association to agree new Nominations Agreement
• Ongoing regular attended this month included Housing Liaison meetings where cases of relevance to Social Work, Community Safety and Police Scotland are discussed, MARAC meeting with other agencies, CPC MISE group to discuss Child Protection issues, Safe and Together forums, 2-weekly meetings of the Community Harm and Risk Meeting (CHARM) with Police Scotland, Community Protection, Trading Standards and Licensing and regular meetings with Legal Services regarding dispute over title deeds in the housing estate, NOP’s and other legal matters
• Housing continues to review processes and make changes to them where possible to allow for a more customer, person centred approach
• The new on-line CRM system training has been issued for Housing staff using the system and now up and running
• The team is part of new Steering Group to re-establish and implement new procedures for processing and issuing Tenant Recharges
• Attendance at new 2-weekly Community Harm and Risk Meeting (CHARM) with Police Scotland, Community Safety, Trading Standards and Licensing officers continues. Attendance at East Dunbartonshire Safe and Together steering group is ongoing
• Hold monthly budget meetings with HRA accountant to keep abreast of costs. Weekly meetings with Void Team at Property Maintenance to focus on improving performance. Monthly attendance at new Housing/Social Work liaison meeting to discuss Throughcare cases and Unaccompanied Asylum Seeking Children
• Monthly void property meetings with Property Maintenance to endeavour to improve performance
• Ensuring all ASB cases are actioned in conjunction with Community Safety and Police partners
• Ensuring turn around times on void properties falls and offers are out with applicants on these properties
• 12 households made a homeless application during December 2025. In comparison there were 24 in November
• 20 households were supported by the Homelessness Out of Hours Service. This is an increase from last month where there was 6 households requiring support from the Out of Hours Service
• 13 homeless applicants were made an offer of settled accommodation.  None of which had been waiting longer than 3 years
• 10 households were moved to temporary accommodation. No households were placed in unsuitable accommodation.  To date the Council has not breached the unsuitable accommodation order
• The Council’s Landlord Registration Officer received 115 applications (141 last month); 11 new registrations (22 last month), 45 renewals (55 last month) and 59 updates (64 last month).  The council collected £4852.00 income during December (£6,572.00 last month)
• During the festive season (24 December – 4 January) the Homeless Team assisted 15 households.  Advice and assistance was offered to all households.  One household required/accepted temporary accommodation and was booked into Rapid Access accommodation and one required an appointment to further discuss their housing options.

Key areas of focus in December for the Communications & Engagement team included the Provost’s Christmas Card competition, festive operational changes and the upcoming Council by-election.
Media relations were largely consistent this month with 10 releases issued (10 in November), three photocalls (ten in November) and 34 media enquiries dealt with (46 in November).

All releases are on the Council website news section and the local coverage achieved equated to an equivalent advertising value of £9,384 (£7,320 in November.)

Facebook, X, Instagram and LinkedIn all saw increases in followers with the most popular posts this month relating to Bishopbriggs playpark, Mugdock Park playpark and the City Deal project in Bishopbriggs. 

Across the Council’s four social media channels the average engagement rate was 1.7% (a good engagement rate is 0.5, anything above 1 is deemed great).

The Council website had 189,212 visits (excluding internal traffic) with the most popular page Bins, Waste and Recycling receiving 37,104 views.

There were 3,812 call-to-action button clicks, 2,977 of these were customers completing online forms.
The most watched video on Facebook was Festive bin collection changes with 4,210 views and on YouTube it was the meeting of the Council in December with 257 views.

Three videos were created this month with 31 design jobs completed overall.

In December 2025, the Corporate Performance and Research team continued to fulfil required duties in relation to reporting of performance and risk management at a corporate level and provision of service level data and statistical support as well as continuing to ensure the Council has adequate insurance arrangements in place, providing advice and support in relation to insurance related queries and acting as a point of escalation in regards to any claims. All business-as-usual work was completed within agreed timescales. 

The team also continues to undertake complaints handling at a corporate level, coordinating responses to complaints across all service areas, ensuring they are addressed appropriately, and that adequate responses are provided within statutory timescales.

Throughout December the Customer Services team handled a variety of enquiries and requests for service including responding to 7,096 telephone calls, and supporting 112 appointments and 666 drop-ins to the Community Hubs. These figures are down on the previous month. December can be a fairly quiet month as residents prepare for the Christmas period which provides the team with the opportunity to focus on improving email and online enquiry response times. 

The team also undertook complaint handling training, this was delivered by the Corporate Performance Manager to improve knowledge and understanding of the Council’s complaint handling process, enabling customer service agents to provide a better quality of service to customers when they are dissatisfied with a service they have received. This training will continue across the team throughout January and February 2026. 

The Emergency Response Centre team continue to provide support to both East and West Dunbartonshire’s analogue to digital programmes, this will be ongoing until the telecom infrastructure suppliers make the final switchover in January 2027. Continued development of the digital call handling platform introduced in 2024, Chubb Sky Response, is ongoing with productive collaboration between Local Authority users of the system and the Scottish Digital Office, sharing best practice and knowledge ensuring the system functionality is continually improving.  The team handled 20,843 community alarm activations and 524 out of hours calls across December.  

The Human Resources & Organisational Teams lead on workforce centred activities including, policy development, resourcing, workforce and succession plannning, workforce analytics, people development, Job Evaluation, attendance and wellbeing improvement as well as providing strategic and operational employee relations support including case management and partnership working.

A key focus across the team is the development and implementation of the replacement HR and Payroll system, Oracle Fusion HCM. Oracle Fusion is the same platform that the Council transitioned its procurement and finance systems to, with the opportunity for greater synergies and efficiencies going forward. Significant resources across the HR&OD teams are required to carry out the key stages of the development and implementation, including parallel operations across the current and new sytems, and significant testing. It is anticpated the new system will go live later in 2026. 

Communications & Engagement

• Promotion of the next round of Community Grants with video creation, social media, media release and website updates
• Design of Mugdock Park furniture including illustrations and mock ups
• Co-ordinated communications relating to Douglas Academy being named Scottish State Secondary School of the Year with photocall, media release and social media
• Design of the Community Learning and Development Plan
• Co-ordination and internal promotion of the Provost’s Christmas Foodbank Appeal
• Winter messaging social media campaign including design of graphics, writing social media posts and publication planning.

Corporate Performance

• Work is underway to progress the annual renewal of the Council’s insurance arrangements
• Initial progress was made in a budget benchmarking exercise to assist with Council budget setting for 2026/27 and beyond
• Complaints handing training was successfully delivered to Customer Services Agents
• Continued assistance was provided to the change team in relation to the rollout of Oracle Fusion
• Data support and assistance provided in the ongoing service reviews in the Health and Social Care Partnership.

Customer Services

• Training continues for the recently recruited Emergency Response Centre Agent and Customer Service Agents undertook complaints handling training to support frontline service delivery
• Steady progress continues in the development of key systems used by the team, improving functionality and features for the benefit of customers
• The team continued to respond to customers throughout the Christmas period, with the ERC team handling 121 urgent and emergency calls between 25 and 31 December, these included emergency housing repairs for Council tenants and road and lighting faults.

Human Resources & Organisational Development 

• Continued engagement with the Trade Unions on strategic and operation HR initiatives, including service reviews and policy development
• Continued support for employees and managers on HR policy based and guidance noted, with support in attendance on ER case work
• Within Payroll Services, the team have maintained and processed the payover of the various payruns within timescales, with the completion of a series of statutory returns.
• Implementation of the agreed Teachers Pay Award
• Following review of overtime process, implemented a new approach to provide efficiency in time taken for additional hours worked to be claimed and processed
• The HCM Project Board, continues to provide oversight and governance in support of moving to the new HR/Payroll system. 
• Teams across HR and Payroll continue to undertake series of milestones and output required as part of the HCM project, whilst managing business as usual operational work
• The People Development team delivered sessions across a number of topics including SMART Working, Induction and EDC policy sessions
• Continued support by the People Development team in the facilitation of statutory training in a number of services areas to ensure continued compliance and certification. In December, 159 delegates received training across a range of topics.  
    

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The Children & Families team held Saturday drop-in sessions showcasing work produced as part of the Coding & Gaming project, funded by the Public Library Improvement Fund. Young people in P7 and above created fun worlds for younger children (P4-P7) to explore in the safe environment of our own digital spaces, which included Christmas themed games created by the young people using the Scratch coding platform, and a Winter Wonderland in Minecraft. The drop-in sessions allowed participants to show their work to their friends and families, as well as to young people dropping in to encourage them to take part in future activities.

The library service partnered with EDHSCP to deliver another “Weaning Fayre” at Bishopbriggs Library, as a follow on to a Bookbug session. Over 25 parents and their toddlers were present to hear a talk from a dietician, as well as being able to consult with other health professionals, on the transition to solids for babies.  

As part of the library service Tackling Loneliness programme a series of activities and events took place over the period, including; Connection Through Cooking at Westerton library, the introduction of a Creative Writing group at Milngavie library, 90 attendees at the popular Crochet Club and Card Club at Bishopbriggs library and a talk by Alan Gall, ex Chief Superintendent with the then Strathclyde police which was attended by 36 local people. 

In the lead up to the festive season, Christmas Bookbug & Craft sessions were held across a number of libraries, the Children & Families team delivered Christmas storytelling events at Lennoxtown Primary and Hillhead Primary, Westerton library hosted the local Christmas lights switch on event, which attracted 400 visitors, Bishopbriggs library hosted a Christmas themed Conversation Café – supporting local people to learn new languages and Lennoxtown Library hosted a Christmas themed Quiz-Off with teams from Milngavie and Lennoxtown competing for a trophy. Lennoxtown won!

Archives & Local Studies received 1,654 visitors and 297 enquiries.  Volunteers gave up 38 hours of their time to support the Archives service with collections care work. 

The popular annual Christmas exhibitions at both the Auld Kirk Museum and Lillie Art Gallery continued in the lead up to Christmas.  Young visitors were also able to write their letters to Santa and post them in special post boxes.   There were 1,409 visitors to the venues during P9. 

The Heritage & Arts Service received 5,984 digital visitors across its online collections’ platforms. 
The Arts & Events programme had a busy time with 114 keen artists taking part in the arts workshops programme for both children and adults. Kirkintilloch Town Hall welcomed 110 members of the public to a performance of A Christmas Carol by No Nonsense Theatre Productions. Audience members were delighted with the opportunity to see live theatre within their local community and have requested more events of this type. 

Kirkintilloch Town Hall and Kilmardinny House were also busy in the lead up to Christmas, hosting 68 community events, including Christmas fayres and parties. 

Leisuredrome

The Leisuredrome carried out essential annual servicing and repairs on Monday 22nd December including a balance tank disinfection/clean, tiling repairs and hot water pipework replacement. The Centre was closed to the public until midday.

Attendances (excluding Community Sports) for the period were 8.6% higher (29,163) than period 9 of 2024/25 (26,265).

Allander Leisure Centre

The Allander also closed to the public on Thursday 18th December 2025 to allow for annual servicing work. Closures at both the Allander and Leisuredrome are scheduled at this time of year as this is the quietest week of the year leading up to Christmas.

Group Fitness continued to record high participation with period 9, 14% (10,207) up, on the same period last year (8936).

The Operations Manager David Kelly retired following 22 years in post. David was instrumental in the successful transition from the Old Allander to the new one opening in March 2023.

Kirkintilloch Leisure Centre

East Dunbartonshire Council completed the drain installation works at the centre’s disability parking bays this month. This has effectively stopped water pooling along the length of the building allowing customers easier access to the facility directly from their cars.

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The Service has made very good progress against priorities in the Business and Improvement Plan (BIP) 2025-2028. 

• The annual EDC Music Service Christmas Concert took place in the Royal Concert Hall on Monday 2 December 2025.  The musicians and singers were outstanding, and the concert was a real celebration of the skills and talents of our children and young people.  Councillor Williamson gave a vote of thanks where she recognised the hard work of the Music Service and their commitment and dedication to music in EDC
• Schools and Early Years Centres have been celebrating Christmas through a variety of Nativity Plays and School shows which have been enjoyed by parents, friends and members of the central team.

School and Early Years Centre Awards and Achievements

• Gartconner Primary School achieved their UNCRC Gold Award. A Primary 6 pupil won the EDC Gritter naming competition with the name ‘CTRL ALT DE ICE’.  A Primary 1 pupil was the runner up in the Provost’s Christmas Card competition
• St. Nicholas’ Primary School have successfully achieved their Reading Schools Award
• A P7 pupil in Westerton Primary won the Provost’s Christmas Card competition
• Wester Cleddens Primary achieved their Gold Reading Schools Award
• Six Primary 7 Wester Cleddens pupils were winners in the Provost’s Active Travel Sticker competition.

Early Years, Primary, Secondary and Supporting Families

• The final two sessions of Froebel twilight sessions were accessed across the West Partnership, through a Froebel Trust Grant secured by EDC on behalf of the West Froebel Family. The final two practical sessions on Sewing and Weaving and Block Play saw 100 participants join the online sessions.  In total the four sessions offered were attended by 400 participants
• The majority of Nursery Teachers attended the Nursery Teacher Professional Learning Community (PLC), where the group revisited tracking and discussed how tracking procedures have improved in their settings following last session’s work. The new Quality Framework and Self‑evaluation Toolkit was also introduced to support teachers in their role evaluating Curriculum, Learning and Teaching, and Securing Progress Teachers began sharing early discussions about moderation processes, which will become a key focus for a future meeting
• 17 Practitioners and Family Learning Assistants across schools and EYCs completed the Keeping the Promise Family Learning Award. This supports the work in raising awareness of Care Experienced children and families and the impact of professionals working with the families to improve outcomes and achievements for all
• All Provisionally Registered Teachers (PRTs) made satisfactory progress towards meeting the GTCS Standard for Registration. Almost all successfully submitted their GTCS Block 1 Profile
• Almost all teaching students placed in Primary and Secondary schools successfully completed placements. A few students did not meet the Standard for Provisional registration.

ASN and Children’s Services

• QIO’s ASN recently carried out focus visits across all ELR’s and Primary and Secondary Wellbeing Service. The purpose of these visits was to gain a clear and current understanding of practice, provision and learner experiences, while supporting ongoing improvement through professional dialogue
• Bearsden Academy Guidance Team recently participated in training focused on the effective use of Pastoral Notes and Chronologies and the management of bullying concerns using BEM. The session aimed to strengthen confidence, consistency and shared understanding across the team, ensuring that approaches align with local policy and national expectations.

Educational Psychology Service (EPS)

• HMIE Primary School Report highlighted play pedagogy as ‘Practice worth sharing more widely’: “Staff use of play to support children’s learning in the early years is a significant strength.  Staff have embedded play successfully into the early years. They use learning spaces creatively to provide a range of stimulating learning environments, directly linked to children’s interests. Teachers balance child-initiated, adult-initiated and adult-directed activities very skilfully. Importantly, staff regularly observe children during play to measure their progress and to plan next steps in learning. This is supporting positive outcomes for children and ensures they are curious and creative towards their learning”

• SHINE – main areas to support identified from local authority level primary and secondary school mental health survey results are:
  • Small positive improvements in several mental health indicators over the period of 2023-2025 (confidence, less stressed by schoolwork, liking school more)
  • Overall emotional difficulties are greater for girls compared to boys across all year groups
  • Appearance remains the main reported cause of low happiness for boys and girls 

• Across education and social work, ten professionals continue to undertake their Level 3 NVR training, and three professionals are undergoing Level 4 NVR training. The strategic group have mapped out a three-year plan for dissemination of training from Level 1 to 4 across East Dunbartonshire Council
• The revised Addressing Dyslexia Guidance is in final draft form.  The development and implementation plan which sits alongside the guidance draft training plan is complete
• The Nurture Evaluation Report 2025-2026 is complete and has been shared with the Chief Education Officer
• PLCs were held for both the Primary Nurture practitioners and the Secondary Wellbeing Teachers. There was also a separate Boxall Profile Workshop which was delivered to over 30 practitioners across Early Years, Primary and Secondary. This session was rated highly with participants valuing the practical application.

School Planning and Improvement

• Milngavie Primary School Refurbishment Project continued well prior to the festive break
• Plans and options for Milngavie Early Years replacement building were discussed with the Parent Council.  Planning application has been submitted for consideration
• Balmuildy Primary School replacement project continues to develop with the Major Asset Team and wider Project Team Concrete pours for foundations and base level progressed up until the festive period
• Primary & Secondary School Registrations closed on 30th November with analysis of registrations beginning in December and will be complete early January
• School pupil projections for future intakes were near completion during December.  This will be finalised again in January and shared with Major Assets and Planning Department.

Skills for Life, Learning and Work

• Over 40 staff from partner organisations attended a development and consultation event to finalise the new draft East Dunbartonshire Community Learning and Development plan. The plan focuses on approaches to adult learning and employability, youth work and community development. The plan will now go through Council and Community Planning approval processes.

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Finance 

The month of December saw the Finance Team continuing year end tasks required for the collation of 2024/25 accounts.  In addition, the team continues to respond to audit queries on the 2023/24 accounts as this audit progresses towards finalisation.  As the finance team works through a critical period of demands on the team, an additional 1 FTE resource continues to temporarily supplement existing teams and to help manage the external audit process and timeline risks.  Movement into Phase 2 of the ledger system with HCM is also in progress and this has been staffed with an additional 0.5 full time equivalent within the Finance team as a further temporary resource.  However, the Service is currently working with fewer accountants, and some absence within the team.  An internal training process has begun to remedy this long term.

The Council continues to deliver against an ambitious capital programme supported largely by borrowing. 
Treasury Management Reporting continues to highlight the increasing revenue costs associated with the current programme with ongoing affordability being challenged within a tight funding settlement.  Reports to Council have provided updates on the programme, the associated costs and any mitigations required.  The final Treasury Management Report of 2024/25 and interim report for 2025/26 have now been submitted.

The team is now costing the 2026/27 budget position, for phase 1, in order to provide a balanced position in a highly challenging financial context, as well as completing the period 8 P&R papers to go to a future P&R.

Revenues & Benefits

The Revenues and Benefits team have continued to progress Council Tax and Benefits services and administration of the Scottish Welfare Fund.  A skeleton service was provided between Christmas and New Year to cover the Scottish Welfare Fund.

The Council Tax Collection Rate at 82.43% is behind the target of 82.95% for this point in the year.  This reflects a continued trend of more residents making 12 annual payments instead of 10, which reduces the monthly income from April to January but should see increases in February and March.  The Council’s Recovery and Enforcement Procedures continue to be applied, and individuals being signposted to the exemptions and discounts available as appropriate.

Shared Services

The Shared Services Team continues to provide support across all Council services.  The Homecare Team continues to support an initiative from the Planning & Commissioning Team, processing variations in addition to their normal workload.  The Transport Team continue to manage the day-to-day contracts and procure any ad-hoc contracts as required.  

The General Team continue to adapt to the new process for overtime administration in preparation for the new payroll system. 

ICT Services 

The ICT Services team continues to support the Council’s information technology systems and services to ensure high availability and performance in line with agreed service levels.  The Team resolved 828 tickets in December and dealt with 269 telephone calls.  ICT Services provided cover for critical services over the Christmas holiday period.  ICT Infrastructure continues to support the delivery of major projects in conjunction with the Business & Digital Change Team and Major Assets team.  The ICT Security team continues to monitor the estate and perimeter defences alongside ongoing improvements to ensure that our systems and data are protected.

Housing Rent and Tenant Participation 

The maximisation of housing rental income and pursuit of rent arrears continues to be a priority for the service, to safeguard income.  This is achieved by a dedicated team of Officers, whose role is to actively pursue rent arrears and provide advice and support to tenants struggling to pay their rent.  This includes issuing letters, home visits, telephone calls, emails, etc, which begin as soon as arrears are accrued on a rent account; pre tenancy advice on rent charges, payment options and discussing rent affordability to new tenants at the time of offer acceptance of their new tenancy; signposting tenants struggling financially to relevant support services to ensure household incomes are maximised; having a weekly presence at Kirkintilloch Job Centre to provide additional support for tenants in receipt of the housing element of Universal Credit; and escalating arrears actions to include court action or eviction for serious rent arrears cases.  Active rent arrears of £1,033,558 are £294,082 lower than at the same period as last year. The team are committed to working with tenants to reduce arrears further.
The Tenant Participation Team continues to provide direct ongoing support to active Tenants and Residents Associations.

Business & Digital Change Team

During December the Business & Digital Change Team continued to support services across the Council in the delivery of key strategic digital development projects.

The Team also continues to support our corporate business systems, ensuring incidents are resolved promptly and that all systems remain supported and upgraded in line with an agreed plan.  We also ensure our systems are reliable, resilient, scalable, standardised, value for money and secure.

Internal Audit 

Work continues towards completion of several audits on the 2025/26 plan as the team provides assurance over key areas of risk, making recommendations and following up on these to improve the control environment.  Audits near completion include Green Waste Permits, a review of the Supply Teacher Database and a review of Winter Planning arrangements.    
 
Work is progressing on the completion of the Council’s Annual Governance Statement 2024/25. 

Corporate Fraud 

The Corporate Fraud Team continues to prioritise the investigation of referrals and the proactive vetting of applications across key service areas, including Housing, Education, Licensing, and Estates. This work is essential to safeguarding access points and preventing fraud or error from entering council systems.

 As part of this effort, the team has received in excess of 6,000 data matches from the National Fraud Initiative (NFI)—a data matching exercise led by Audit Scotland to detect fraud and error. These matches were released in phases and have now all been received. The team continue to review the high-risk and high-value matches. The matching of Council Tax records against Electoral Registration records is nearing completion; the savings and additional income identified now total £0.360m.  The review of data matches against HMRC is ongoing and is not anticipated to continue throughout the year.  Further NFI matches have been released in respect of people in receipt of care packages.  It is anticipated that these matches will be finalised in January 2026.  A tailored training programme was developed and delivered for employees in Revenues & Benefits.  While the development of an in-house anti-fraud and bribery training package has been temporarily paused due to resource constraints, it will resume when capacity allows.  

The Economic Crime and Transparency Act 2023 has from 01 September 2025, introduced a new criminal offence applicable to public bodies who fail to prevent fraud by employees or agents. The team have attended briefing sessions held by CIFAS on the measures required to be taken to ensure compliance.  A briefing document for SLT and fraud risk assessment templates have been developed and issued to SLT for consideration.

Finance 

• Responding to audit queries on the 2023/24 draft accounts as the audit progresses towards finalisation
• Mugdock, HRA & Charitable accounts finalised for 2024/25 unaudited positions. General Fund in final weeks of finalising unaudited position
• The Oracle Fusion General Ledger system project has now been signed off as Green status with a few legacy tickets to be completed.  Phase 2 with HCM and PBCS/Fusion has now commenced and likely to last for 18 months
• Staff development is a key focus and given a challenging external recruitment market, the service is continuing to upskill existing staff where possible.  A practice of grow your own has begun and is hoped to be see benefits over the next few years
• The Treasury team continues to monitor cash flow closely, ensuring that there is liquidity for all Council activities.  Additional borrowing continues to be taken in line with the Council's capital programme expenditure. 

Revenues and Benefits 

• In the month of December, the team issued:
  • 1,570 Council Tax bills and 5,735 Benefits notifications; and,
  • 355 crisis grants and community care grant applications were received
• The team received and dealt with 1,230 documents for Council Tax queries and reduction and 410 for benefits.  In addition, the team received 2,200 ATLAS notifications from DWP
• The team dealt with 1,620 telephone enquiries.

ICT Services 

• ICT Services are working closely with the Business and Digital Change Team to implement M365
• The Infrastructure Team:
  •  Installed 25 Interactive Panels at St Nicholas Primary School, Auchinairn, Cleddens and Lairdsland EYCs
  • Replaced 100 obsolete laptops with new Windows 11 laptops. Carried out the in-place upgrade of 340 laptops from Windows 10 to Windows 11 across the corporate estate.
  • Installed SD-WAN circuit at Bearsden Hub in preparation for re-opening.
• ICT Security have:
  
  • Addressed remediations for the annual IT Health Check.
  • Maintained the Council’s perimeter defences.
  • Monitored the migration of devices onto newly configured hybrid platform.
  • Completed a health check on critical monitoring software.

Shared Services 

• The Residential Team added 75 service agreements to CareFirst for clients moving into care homes or for supported living services within their own homes
  The Homecare Team added 324 service agreements to CareFirst for clients receiving a homecare service or a direct payment
  Direct Payment Audit Team – 12 standard audits and 1 final audit completed for clients receiving self-direct support
  The EMA Team dealt with 8 Education Maintenance Applications in December which are all processed through SEEMiS.

Housing Rent Arrears

Active Tenant Rent Arrears were £1,033,558 which is a decrease of £294,082 on same period as last year (week 39)

• Housing Officers continue to utilise all avenues to maximise rental income and reduce rent arrears, apply a firm but fair approach when escalating actions against tenants whose rent arrears are increasing, and also provide advice and assistance to tenants who engage and need additional support
• The rent arrears campaign continued reminding tenants to ensure their rent is prioritised in the lead up to and during the Christmas period
• Weekly Tuesday morning appointments for tenants at Kirkintilloch Job Centre with Housing Officers and Work Coaches to assist those in receipt of the Universal Credit housing element
• Online issue of the Taking Part newsletter published with links emailed to all EDC tenants where they have provided their contact email address. Newsletter available on EDC website and advertised on EDC social media platforms
• Annual rent setting consultation carried out with tenants, giving them an opportunity to give their views on proposals for a rent increase for the financial year 2026/27.

 Business & Digital Change 

• During this period, the Business Systems team upgraded 6 system environments, resolved 6 incidents, assisted with 6 projects and continued contributing to the Windows 11 rollout. 

• Revised HCM implementation timelines are now agreed for Aug 2026. Contract extensions for the Mastek implementation and legacy iTrent maintenance are underway. The project team, alongside HR, Payroll and Finance, is prioritising completion of parallel payroll reconciliation, user acceptance testing, and clearing key programme backlog items ahead of 23 Jan 2026.  

   

• The IHMS Implementation Team has completed approximately 99% of address and block corrections to improve data quality to support future integration between NEC Housing and Servitor.

   

• As part of the Phase 1 acceptance process, the IHMS Implementation team completed a detailed review to confirm alignment with the agreed specification and to document remaining items with agreed completion timeframes.

   

• The team have been continuing to support the Housing teams both in terms of operational enhancements and preparation for rent year end and reviewing the implication of the next NEC Housing upgrade.

   

   

• The AIM system upgrade is progressing as anticipated with discussions underway regarding a future go-live date, subject to resolution of current technical issues.

   

• Procurement activities are underway to consolidate supplier contracts to achieve cost efficiencies, while also transitioning relevant solutions into formal support and maintenance arrangements.

   

• Mugdock Country Park booking system development continues at pace, with the first live demo scheduled for Friday 16th January 2026.

   

• The new booking system for our Community Hubs has gone live, with Customer Support team leaders using the platform for training of our customer service agents. This will be made available to the public when complete.

   

• The CRM Team have begun preparations for this seasons Green Waste permit, including notification of all previous permit holders that renewal is now due. 

   

• The second site for the Sheltered Housing telecare project has been finalised and will commence on Monday 19th January 2026.

   

• The installation of new telecare alarms has commenced in the wider authority, supported by EDC and HSCP Teams.

Internal Audit 

• The Team is working on completing the 2025/26 Internal Audit Plan, in line with available resources. There is a vacancy at the Audit & Risk Manager level and one Audit Senior post from November onwards
• Advice is continuing to be provided by Internal Audit in line with the Internal Audit Charter to support the enhancement of governance arrangements, risk management and controls.  
• Work on the 2025/26 plan continues with audits such as Green Waste Permits, the Supply Teacher Database and Winter Planning Maintenance being near completion
• Work has been completed in the form of a gap analysis & action plan for the new Global Internal Audit Standards.   Audits recently completed include Complaints, Property Maintenance – Supplier Management and HSCP Performance Management.

Corporate Fraud

• Corporate Fraud is investigating allegations received, focusing on suspected fraud or error within Education, Housing and Revenues Services and on the remaining cases resulting from the NFI
• The team also continues to undertake vetting on applications, from several services, in order to prevent fraud and any potential reputational damage
• The team is focused on maximising its value adding activity through prioritising large value cases, which in some instances are challenging to resolve and require an update of the policy base to support action – specifically the creation of a Communications Data Policy
• The team will also be focussing on the measures required to ensure compliance with The Economic Crime and Transparency Act 2023. 

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The HSCP and its staff continue to work hard to ensure quality delivery of the Council’s operational delivery of statutory social work services, which are integrated with NHS services under the strategic governance of the Health and Social Care Partnership (HSCP) Board. Service quality and outcomes associated with these specific social work services are the main focus of this report with particular reference to three identified performance indicators in accordance with the Council’s strategic approach to business improvement planning.

The wider objective is that improved customer and organisational outcomes can be achieved through successful integrated planning and collaborative delivery of health and social care functions, under single management, with a combined budget, working to a single set of outcomes and operating to a single Strategic Plan. The impact and performance of all of these integrated health and social care services overall are reported on a quarterly and annual basis to the HSCP Board and through agreed representation and reporting arrangements, to the Council.

In December 2025, the HSCP exceeded its targets across all identified key performance indicators.

Key Achievements:

• 100% of Community Justice Social Work reports submitted to court by due date during 2025.
• 100% of Social Work reports submitted to Child Protection Planning meetings during 2025.
• Promotional activity in support of:
  •  HSCP Budget Consultation

Areas of Focus:

HSCP Wide:

• Improve quality and relevance of information on HSCP website and maximise the potential of HSCP website to enable people to manage their own health and care needs 
• Implement year one of the East Dunbartonshire Public Health Framework
• Review and refresh the HSCP Medium-Term Financial Strategy
• Review of Business Support Function
• Review of HSCP Management Structure
• Develop the 2025-2030 HSCP Workforce Plan.

Children and Criminal Justice Services:

• Implementation of Children's Social Work Services Review 
• Introduction of Just Enough Support (Fair Access, Transport, Eligibility Criteria).

Adult Services:

• Continue with the work streams associated with the Learning Disability review and agreement obtained to take forward the John Street review 
• Review and develop new commissioning strategy for Adult Commissioned Services 
• Review the model of delivery for HSCP clinical mental health services across adult and older people care group
• Adult and Children & Families Services Commissioning Review 
• Review of adult Social Work delivery model.

Land Planning & Development have progressed a number of significant work streams during December 2025 in line with the Business Improvement Plan commitments.  

• Work on the next Local Development Plan (LDP3) for the area is ongoing.  The Council received the outcome of the Gate Check on the Evidence Report for LDP3 on 05 November 2025.  Officers are continuing to review the Gate Check assessment report and have begun discussions with internal services to address the matters set out in the Reporter’s recommendations
• Work with consultants on the preparation of an Urban Greening Factor to support the development of LDP3 has begun
• A report providing an update on the first year of implementing the National Planning Improvement Framework for East Dunbartonshire, has been prepared by the Council in conjunction with National Planning Improvement Team.  The report sets out the progress made to date in implementing the action plan and the next steps to be taken with regards to each identified action.  The report was endorsed by the National Planning Improvement Champion on 12 December 2025
• Work is continuing on identifying priority projects for inclusion in the Council’s new Greenspace Strategy, which will replace the current Green Network Strategy and current Open Space Strategy.  Work is continuing on an updated Open Space Audit which will support the development of the strategy.  This includes targeted engagement events for community groups held in Milngavie Community Library and Education Centre in November 2025, and in Kirkintilloch (held in Council offices) on 17 December 2025.

• The consultation on the draft Climate Action Plan closed on 19 December 2025.  Details of input received and changes made to the CAP in response to the input being written up in a report of consultation.  This includes input received at events held across East Dunbartonshire throughout the consultation period such as the drop-in sessions, a school engagement event, targeted events for disadvantaged communities, a digital event, and bespoke events in response to requests from communities.   The consultation was also covered in 12 local newspapers / magazine articles, including in the Glasgow Times, Kirkintilloch Herald, Milngavie and Bearsden Herald and Bearsden and Milngavie Community Magazine, numerous posts on Facebook, X, Linkedin and Instagram, and information sent to staff through employee news.  A request for updates from executive officers on progress on actions within the draft climate action plan was also issued
• A presentation was organised for January 2026 in partnership with Skills Development Scotland to provide career advisors across East Dunbartonshire with an outline of emerging green job projections and potential pathways to such opportunities to help to disseminate this information to young people and those who influence them.  Input was also provided for the forthcoming Community Learning and Development Action Plan on opportunities such as this collaboration on green skills and collaborative engagement through the forthcoming Climate Change Forums
• Further progress was made on the feasibility study for a heat network in central Kirkintilloch,  which secured Scottish Government funding based upon an opportunity identified in the Council’s Local Heat & Energy Efficiency Strategy (LHEES) Delivery Plan. This includes a workshop being scheduled for January 2026 to help to finalise the study in the 2025/26 financial year.
• Updates were made to the Council’s School Travel Plans informed by engagement with colleagues across the Council to ensure that the plans will align with relevant forthcoming work
• Additional work was undertaken to refresh the Council’s Parking Management Plan to reflect the range of relevant Council, regional and national transport initiatives from recent years and to prepare an updated version
• Preparations were made for an Employee Travel Survey to issue in February 2026.  This includes working with colleagues and partners to refine the number of questions while still gathering the data necessary to estimate emissions from Council homeworking and commuting
• Following Place Neighbourhood & Corporate Assets committee approval of the publication and delivery of the finalised Food Growing Strategy 2026 - 2031 for East Dunbartonshire, potential updates for the Council’s webpage
• Further work was undertaken on the Nature-Based Investment Study to pave way for a consultant to be appointed. The study will involve quantifying the current greenhouse gas emission absorption potential of nature in East Dunbartonshire and setting out options to leverage additional public and private investment to support environmental outcomes, contribute towards the Council’s net zero targets and deliver meaningful action to preserve and bolster flourishing biodiversity.  The study will likely need to be progressed in phases due to limited availability of funding
• Feedback was provided to Climate Ready Clyde on the draft Concordat and to inform the forthcoming Climate Ready Regions Project Pipeline while legal advice was sought in advance of the concordat progressing to Council for consideration
• A Strategic Environmental Assessment service continues to be provided to colleagues across the Council.  Sustainability input has also been provided for various planning applications in addition to ad-hoc projects from other Council teams.

• The Team are currently working with a number of Teams across the Council on a range of GIS projects including Greenspace Strategy Mapping, Mapping support for FOI, The Team also continues to provide support in the preparation of LDP 3, Kirkintilloch heat network study, EDC Open Space Audit
• A GIS Service & Error Reporting Action app: we have received multiple requests through this system. The team has resolved most of them
• The Team completed multiple address register/update requests and several address queries and new ArcGIS online accounts requests from Teams across the Council
• The GIS server and Maps are fully operational and running
• Planning for next year’s upgrade of Uniform, Unimap web and Public access platform to stay in support has commenced. 

• Transition to the new IHMS system continues to be supported by the IHMS Project team. Officers are utilising both Test and Live environments and are configuring enhancements following a major upgrade of the NEC system in preparation for moving on to Phase 2.  
• Systems and Performance Monitoring officers can now utilise bespoke reporting functionality within IHMS. 
• Systems officers are assisting with day-to-day processing of direct debits and the set-up of rent accounts in both Test and Live IHMS and continue to monitor/escalate issues as they arise. 
• Performance Monitoring officers continue to complete monthly statistics and dashboards that inform the HGIOS Report and Annual Return on the Charter. In addition, a Quarterly Return is voluntarily submitted to Scotland’s Housing Network that informs an annual benchmarking analysis against other social landlords. 
• Performance Monitoring officers are completing a monthly Voids Return for Scotland’s Housing Network who are actively monitoring voids timescales nationally. 
• Policy officers continue to review the Council's Allocations Policy in line with phasing in of IHMS. 
• The Policy and Performance team collated evidence from Housing and PM teams and has now submitted the annual update to the Local Housing Strategy. 
• Both Policy and Housing Estates teams are preparing to progress a feasibility study into the cost effectiveness and viability of lock up garages and garage ground sites. 
• Procurement of a new Digital Telecare system provider is now complete. The project team are ensuring the successful transition of analogue telecare to digital telecare throughout the sheltered housing complexes and will deliver in-person briefings to tenants at each site and will ensure welfare facilities are available during the programme of works. The Project has been handed over to the contractor and completion of the transition has successfully taken place at one site.
• Sheltered Housing Wardens are working closely with tenants to ensure a robust service is provided during the Telecare switchover to the new system and to minimise disruption to tenants as equipment is removed and replaced.

• Working with numerous public sector agencies to ensure all support mechanisms to help business and create jobs are fully utilised, including development of new skills & technologies.  Cost of doing business continues to be a concern and resources to help and inform businesses continue to be priority with combined support materials available through the Find Business Support website.  A range of support is provided via the team and the Business Gateway contract to new emerging and existing businesses. This includes provision of local business support grants to support start up and growth SMEs
• Digital Boost will no longer be funded through Scottish Government although webinars will continue to be delivered by Business Gateway National.  The team are using currently available expertise to support companies on their digital journey, as well as developing further internal expertise
• The team are currently processing further green business and digital adoption support, enabled through Year 4 Shared Prosperity Fund allocation. This will provide an additional level of support which would not be available without additional funding, and sees a continuation from work undertaken with the first three years of SPF funding.  The digital grant will be aimed at Cyber Security for businesses allowing update of their online presence/equipment to ensure their systems and information are secure.  The Green Business Support Grant will aim to encourage replacement of equipment/infrastructure which will reduce their carbon footprint. The grants have proved very popular and now fully subscribed
• Increased Start Up Support - the team are currently working on mentorship programmes for start-up businesses to help them with marketing, finance and digital requirements, as better preparation at start-up can help businesses to be sustainable longer term. The annual ongoing Business Grants (start up and growth) are ongoing and now fully subscribed. A good Business Start Up rate has been achieved so far in 2025/26, with 103 new Start Ups by end of October 2025
• Growth and inward investment enquiries are being supported and coordinated by the team, directing them primarily to masterplan locations (Kirkintilloch Gateway, and the emerging Westerhill masterplan area).  The team are working with City Deal team looking at promotional methods and opportunities to encourage investment at Westerhill. The Site Enabling & Regeneration Fund is now open, offering grant support to parties interested in developing proposals for regeneration and commercial development. 

• The team continues with a range of work to ensure the delivery of the Council’s City Deal project. The Outline Business Case (in-line with City Deal & HM Greenbook requirements) was approved at the Glasgow City Region November 2024. Full Business Cases (FBC) for the two project elements – Bishopbriggs Town Centre Civic Space and Westerhill Development Road – were approved at a meeting of Council in Dec 2025 and subsequently submitted to the Glasgow City Region (GCR) for approval, expected in Feb 2026
• The Westerhill Regeneration Area (WRA) planning guidance and its associated delivery plan is now adopted under LDP2. Work is taking place to promote the location and examine how different aspects of the WRA can be supported to a delivery stage, out with the current City Deal Projects
• Work is ongoing on the Westerhill Development Road (WDR). Planning permission is in place and delivery costs have been presented to Council and GCR. Pending FBC approval in Feb 2026, work is programmed to commence in March 2026
• Work continues on Bishopbriggs Town Centre Civic Space project.  The procurement of main works contractor has been undertaken, and costs were presented to Council and GCR. Pending FBC approval in Feb 2026, work is programmed to commence in March 2026.  Work continues with relevant landowners to secure the area on a long-term lease. The A803 project is now out with the scope of City Deal, but work continues to look at how this can be funded and delivered through other means. Bus Infrastructure Fund funding has been identified that will be allocated to the A803, and more updates will be provided in a Technical Note
• The team are working with the Glasgow City Region Programme Management Office on the proposed use of additional City Deal funding that has been allocated to all eight member local authorities for the Enabling Commercial Space programme. At P&R in May 2025, approval was given to utilise the funding to help deliver commercial floorspace in the Southbank area, linked to the Councils asset strategy for this location. Further project detail will be available through early 2026.
    

• The Campsie Memorial Hall project in Lennoxtown secured funding from the Scottish Government’s Regeneration Capital Grant Fund, and is now on site and progressing well
• The programme management of the Shared Prosperity Fund is ongoing to support services and projects across the Council. A range of projects have been identified and are being progressed for implementation up to end of September 2026 as part of the fourth year of SPF funding
• The Lennoxtown Main Street Improvement Project concluded procurement of a contractor and has progressed to the construction phase
• The Lennoxtown Greenspace Project aims to repurpose disused red blaes pitches at Station Road and Ferguson Parks to provide outdoor recreation spaces, enhance biodiversity, and improved active travel routes. The project has secured funding from the Scottish Government’s Vacant and Derelict Land Investment Programme (VDLIP). The VDLIP funding will deliver improvements to Station Road Park where it’s anticipated works will begin in 2026. The designs have been developed in partnership with the local community. Work relating to this procurement is ongoing
• Construction of the Twechar Canalside Outdoor Pursuits Centre is complete, the official opening took place in October
• Work is ongoing with the Milngavie BID and Kirkintilloch BID as they move through year one of a five-year term
• Work is taking place to develop a follow up business case to set out more details on what is required to prepare a Visitor Levy and how a Visitor Levy could operate in East Dunbartonshire. The work will set out options for consideration at the relevant Council committee. 

• The construction phase of Canniesburn Toll Improvement Project is now complete.The project is now finished and reached the end of its defects stage. Monitoring was carried out in September 2025 and the findings from which were presented to Council in December 2025
• Feasibility and design works are progressing on a range of active travel infrastructure projects included in the Local Transport and Active Travel Strategies, including works to improve various active travel paths throughout the area
• Work is progressing well on the A807 Active travel route, with construction completed for Phase 1a. The associated TROs for the next stage of the project were agreed at November 2025 PNCA Committee. Preparation is underway for detailed design. Surveys and consultation work which be starting for the next phases through 2025/26
• The BetterPoints East Dunbartonshire App has been launched to promote sustainable transport and active travel. The app allows users to track their sustainable travel journeys and earn rewards for travelling in such a way
• The Traffic Free Schools project continues, and approval has been received (at May 2025 PNCA Committee) to deliver the initiative in a second phase of schools to enhance accessibility and sustainable modes of transport for children and school communities. Lennoxtown Primary, Meadowburn Primary and Thomas Muir Primary are the chosen schools to pilot the scheme in the 2025/26 academic year
• Work is progressing on key functions of the team including: working on a range of Traffic Regulation Orders at various stages of the statutory process, liaising with the network operator and maintenance contractors of the public electric vehicle charging network and continuing to assist in resolving access issues
• Work is ongoing in partnership with the Glasgow City Region to develop a delivery option to increase regional and local Electric Vehicle charging network provision. 

• During the reporting period the planning side of the team has determined 70 applications and validated 56applications
• The Building Standards team have received 69 building warrants and approved 77 applications
• The Development Applications team have been busy preparing reports for the next forthcoming Planning Board and Local Review Body meeting
• The Team have been supporting the Council’s Housing and Major Assets teams with pre application technical advice for the next round of projects
• Both Planning and Building Standards teams continue to offer support and informal advice to customers through our daily duty service Monday to Friday. 

• Review of the LDP Evidence Report’s Assessment Report and next steps to fully meet the Reporter’s recommendations
• Commencement of construction work on the Lennoxtown Main Street Improvement Project
• Completion of the remaining telecare installation at all Sheltered Housing complexes
• The draft Climate Action Plan consultation as completed.

Throughout December, the Democratic Services Team continued to support the internal governance of the Council, in addition to certain regulatory functions.  Seven governance meetings took place during December.  Preparations are well advanced for the use of Modern.gov to support the maintenance and publication of Members’ Registers of Interest.  In addition, work is underway to develop the system for use in the preparation, approval, and publication of Technical Notes and Contract Standing Orders waiver forms.  In time, it will also be used to support public engagement and consultation, and a petitions function.

As part of the Primary and Secondary Schools Registration process, the Team continues to deal with mid-term applications and appeals for placing requests in relation to the 2025/2026 school year.

The Team continues to engage with the Electoral Registration Officer, Electoral Commission, Electoral Management Board and Association of Electoral Administrators in preparation for future electoral events, particularly the Scottish Parliament elections scheduled for May 2026.  This is the most complex and demanding electoral event that the Team administers, and so detailed planning has commenced, and includes officers from various services.  Officers will also liaise with colleagues in West Dunbartonshire Council as the Scottish Parliamentary constituency is cross-boundary.  Regular update Technical Notes will be issued to Members as planning progresses.

h.  The Team is currently planning for the forthcoming by-election for Ward 3 Bearsden South, scheduled for Thursday, 29 January 2026.  Regular Technical Notes have been issued to Members highlighting key dates etc and this will continue through to polling day.  Close of nominations took place on Tuesday, 23 December, and Notices of Poll, Election Agents and Situation of Polling Places were published.  Poll Cards were issued on 29 December.

The Team continues to support Children’s Hearings Scotland as part of the North Strathclyde Area Support Team.  Ongoing support was also provided to Community Councils.  The Team continues to participate in local and national resilience partnership meetings and training exercises.

The Council continued to deliver registration services during December and, when able, supported colleagues in neighbouring authorities.  In addition, the service continued to engage with partners across Greater Glasgow as part of ongoing resilience planning for winter and other potential incidents, in relation to both storage and registration in the event of a mass casualty event or periods of excess deaths.

The service continued to support Members and the Strategic Leadership Team.  Officers from SLT Support and Members Support participated in the Civic Committee and delivered many of the decisions of that Committee.  The Information Management Team continued to provide important support and advice to the MS365 implementation team, in addition to business-as-usual support in relation to freedom of information and data protection.

Key Achievements/ Areas of Focus

• Registration & Customer Services completed 63 birth and 225 death registrations in December.  26 marriages and 0 civil partnerships were also registered in this period
• Citizenship Ceremonies were held to welcome 12 new citizens
• Continued development of the new committee administration system, which included further support for report writers, elected members and development of additional functionality
• Information Management received and processed 155 FOI/EIRs, 8 internal review requests and 20 SARs (Subject Access Requests)

The indicators chosen for monthly reporting represent transactions where Legal Services involvement is nearer the end of the process.  Each indicator relates to services which are important to individuals and Council Services, but that also have an impact on the local economy.  They also represent areas where performance was not previously as good as it might have been, which resulted in the introduction of the PIs.  Whilst performance is consistently high, the continued application of the PIs ensures that this remains the case.  It also ensures that any change in performance is identified and addressed early.

Performance against all indicators for Legal Services for December is 100% 

Legal Services continues to support services across the Council in the delivery of projects, contracts and otherwise to manage legal risk.  This includes advice and work on confidential matters that cannot be included in a public report.

Key Achievements / Areas of Focus

• During December, the Team processed 5 contract review forms and 2 contract award letter, no open market purchases,25 taxi licence applications, and 15 housing repair grants.  All were processed within the timescales.  Considering this, it is not proposed to take any steps currently other than to continue to monitor progress against the set PIs
• The Team continued to provide support to the wider City Deal team with advice and support including concluding suspensive missives for land required for the Westerhill Development Road project, supporting preparation of the Full Business Case submitted to the Glasgow City Region, and negotiating terms of licence required in relation to the Bishopbriggs
• Property and planning work included concluding open market purchase of16 Mavis Bank, reviewing title for different Council projects, concluding s75 agreement for 4 dwelling development at Carlins Place, Lennoxtown for payment of developer contributions towards education and healthcare
• Contracts and procurement work in this period included contracts awarded for Treatment of Persistent Organic Pollutants and Cisco Flex Licensing Renewal; and concluding data sharing agreement with the Improvement Service
• Grants offers accepted included Private Water Supplies Improvement Grant and ATIF 2025-26 Tier 2 Design.  The team also issued 15 Housing Repair grants this month which is higher than usual and were all issued within the required timescales
• The Litigation and Licensing Team continued to provide support to Social Work in relation to adults with incapacity and permanence planning and to Education on a variety of matters.  The Team continues to provide advice on a wide range of confidential matters including employment advice and support the Housing Service.  Additional work included resolution of a long running case to remove equipment from land to support an AHIP2 project, dismissal of a case which sought to challenge the Council’s Fair Access Policy, resolving an employment claim, supporting HR colleagues in reviewing sexual harassment policy and dignity at work policy, and supporting the HSCP into assessing a third-party provider
• Providing support to the Election Team for the forthcoming by-election.

During December, the Procurement Service continued to support other services across the Council in the delivery of various projects, including ongoing support to several strategic procurements/projects, particularly in relation to City Deal, ICT, Business & Digital Change, Lennoxtown Main Street and various Capital projects.  In particular, the Team continued to be heavily involved in data cleansing, Solution redesign, Communication planning, Key User training and support, Data Reconciliation and Supplier data correction as part of the ongoing management of the new Fusion Financial system.  This continues to place a significant demand on the resources of the Team.  In addition to the above, the Team is now testing for a major upgrade to the Fusion system and the implementation of the Supplier Portal model.  The upgrade is of such magnitude that it requires to be managed as a project in its own right and will require support from other Council services.  

The Team continuously works to manage and support the operational activity in terms of the buyers work centre, Fusion catalogue management, supplier management and payment processing, and in October remained focussed on delivering against the increased demand from Services around queries in relation to Fusion, whilst managing the ongoing implementation, remodelling and updating of the System.

The Team was also heavily involved with multiple Capital programme requirements, system software renewals, Grant funded projects, Council Building planned maintenance and Housing New Build Maintenance support.

The team has been co-ordinating the actions instructed by SLT regarding additional authorisations and prioritisations around spend controls, and the contract requirements against budgets, through newly implemented governance procedures and controls.

Key Achievements / Areas of Focus

• Providing ongoing support to the City Deal team in relation to Contract requirements and alternative procurement route options

   

   

• Supported key Capital, Business & Digital Change projects such as Oracle Fusion upgrade , Fusion HCM Phase 2, IHMS, City Deal projects to support Westerhill Development Road, Capital projects such as school estate Professional Fees, Lennoxtown Main Street, school new build contracts, and general budget projects such as school maintenance works, Systems Support whilst supporting workforce of the future planning and Business as Usual workstreams

   

• Participation in extensive meetings and workshops to train, test, reconcile data transfer and solution implementation for the Oracle Fusion Redwood upgrade

   

• Completed renewals for support and maintenance of business-critical systems to facilitate workforce of the future

   

• Ongoing support to the /implementation of Fusion to support the technical requirements for Payment integrations, Managed Stores, and e-invoicing

   

• Information gathering to support the 2024-2025 Annual Procurement Report to include alignments with organisational Climate Action Planning, Circular Economy Strategy, Community Wealth Building & the City Region Community Wish List planning

   

• Processing and payment of Welfare Support Payments in advance of the Xmas shut down period

   

• Processing invoices, payments, and Fusion housekeeping actions

   

• Continued efforts to improve payment KPI’s, planning and communications for Oracle Fusion

   

• Continued Business Critical expenditure considerations within Buyers Work Centre for spend in excess of £16,500

   

• Ongoing work on the review of Contract Standing Orders for alignment with organisational changes, financial management and Procurement governance

   

• Continued Fusion Redwood upgrade actions and communications in alignment with the quarterly Oracle schedules, managing the backlog resulting from the system downtime and managing business as usual

   

• Continued workstreams for the Oracle Fusion upgrade to Redwood Self Service Procurement, including testing and revisiting personalisation to consider business impacts

   

• Continued workstreams for the implementation of the Oracle Fusion Supplier Portal, including testing and revisiting system set up prior to roll out in March 2026

   

• Review of resourcing considerations to support Project workload and business as usual priorities

   

• Publication of external third party spend for the 2024-2025 financial year to Scottish Government

   

• Supporting By-Election and Scottish Parliamentary election planning.

During December, the Strategic Commissioning Team supported the HSCP to progress transformation and budget saving related priorities whilst managing and providing daily oversight and intervention, where required, across the commissioned market.    

Key Achievements / Areas of Focus

• Worked in partnership with a Provider to transition an individual back to his local community.  The partnership approach ensures the individual’s needs and outcomes are met within a more appropriate community setting, whilst demonstrating the value of working collaboratively with providers to ensure statutory obligations and strategic and operational priorities are delivered 

   

• Contributed to and supported the progression of several HSCP strategic and service reviews and provided added value by providing project management and budget management advice and expertise

   

• Continued to monitor and report on financial frameworks underpinning strategic reviews to ensure accuracy, alignment with the HSCP’s medium term financial plan and respective commissioning delivery plans

   

• Contributed to and supported progression of multi-agency collaborative inpatient redesign approaches geared towards alleviating acute and community pressures

   

• Progressed discussions with external HSCPs to explore the potential to co-produce & co-design a collaborative service model capable of providing cross boundary generic support to meet identified needs & outcomes & deliver value for money

   

• Advanced commissioning arrangements to finalise and support delivery of the Mental Health and Alcohol & Drugs Service Review. 

   

Click image to enlarge.

The Roads and Neighbourhood Service continue to oversee the maintenance function and safe operation of the adopted public carriageway/footway network, adopted open spaces (including trees), cemeteries, domestic, commercial waste & recycling collection, fleet, and transportation within East Dunbartonshire. In addition, the Service also oversees the management and operations of Mugdock Country Park.

This Service area is divided into eight portfolio groupings:

1. Roads Network Operations
2. Roads Technical & Engineering 
3. Streetscene Technical Support (including Bereavement and Arboriculture)
4. Streetscene Operations (including grounds maintenance, street cleansing and cemetery operations)
5. Waste Services (including domestic & commercial waste & recycling collections)
6. Fleet Services (including fleet operations, maintenance, and transportation)
7. Mugdock Country Park
8. Corporate Health & Safety Team 

Each team has specific areas of responsibility; however, they all operate, and function collectively as required. Within their own areas, each team has several service accountabilities contributing to local outcomes.

The various sections within the portfolio groups continue to progress both revenue operation/maintenance work and internally and externally funded capital projects with colleagues in Procurement, Finance and Health & Safety. Several projects are time specific due to the external funding conditions to it is very important to make best use of the time available to bring these projects to fruition for the benefit of local communities.

The team continue to deliver both planned and reactive maintenance to both carriageways, footways, and street lighting assets. The Service have filled the remaining Roads Technician with the successful candidate starting in February 2026.

The Roads Network Team Leader and Senior Roads Technician continue to oversee the cyclical Safety Inspections and responses to ad-hoc enquiries. 

The Streetlighting Team are also working on their 2025/26 Capital Programme with vacancies advertised and interviews planned for later in the year to backfill the remaining lighting technicians and electricians’ posts. 

The Roads Network Operations Team are planning for the 2025/26 Roads Winter Maintenance Period for both carriageway and footway winter maintenance. The Winter Maintenance period has now commenced with weather forecast monitored and resources deployed as required.  

The Roads Development, Structures, Traffic, Flood Risk and Drainage Teams continue to work on and contribute to multiple projects including Road Coring, Flood Defence Maintenance, Bridge Inspection/Replacement and Signalisation/TRO Projects across various area. 

The Team also continues to work with Legal colleague to oversee the TRO process associated with the potential implementation of 20mph speed limits across various the remaining geographical areas.

The Team is also coordinating with external contractors to delivery multiple traffic surveys with the information used to determine the next steps for various proposals. This information is used as evidence to either support the need for action or validate the decision not to take forward a proposal if it is not supported by evidence. 

The Traffic Officer also liaise with Police Scotland colleagues to monitor any road related incidents.

The three geographical based teams are continuing with the autumn/winter grounds maintenance tasks. The teams are also undertaking street cleansing of all adopted council roads and pavements including litter collection, leaf clearance, mechanical sweeping, and servicing of street litter bins. 

The team also continue to manage the Councils tree stock. The team manages burials in the eight operational cemeteries. 

The team also continue to support roads with footway gritting when additional resources are required. 

The team continue to work with community groups regarding Environmental Improvement Projects including path improvement, play area renovations, amenity planting, cemetery, and allotment development. 

The team continues to analyse the results of the first Ash Dieback Surveys which will inform the actions that need to be prioritised to address this important issue. Ash Dieback Information will be communicated over the coming months as this is an issue that will become more prominent, and it is important to update elected members and communities on potential tree work resulting from the completed surveys.

The team are continuing with the autumn/winter grounds maintenance tasks. The monthly visitor number continue to exceed expectation, and the team area focused on enhancing the visitor experience to the country park with various improvements planned to key attractions in line with the Mugdock Country Park Strategy. 

The Mugdock Country Park Team continue to work with Striling Council to explore the possibility of Car Parking charges within the five car parks in the park. 

The Waste Team has continued the frontline service operations for the collection of over 400,000 assorted household bins over the month of November, providing residual, recycling, food, garden and special waste collections on behalf of the Authority. The team has also managed the waste and recycling collections from over 400 of our local commercial premises and provides recycling disposal provision at the Mavis Valley Recycling Centre.

The Waste service have continued to work with our Clyde Valley partners through the period on the treatment and disposal contract for all residual household waste.  The Council processed 1787.92 tonnes of waste through this contract in December, ensuring our waste undergoes treatment for recycling extraction prior to being sent through an Energy from Waste process.

The Fleet team continue to manage the transport operations including the Councils Goods Vehicle Operator Licence and compliance across all services. This includes provision and management of the maintenance workshops, annual testing, statutory inspections, and management of Drivers in line with obligations and conditions laid out in the Councils commitment to the Scottish Traffic Commissioner. 

Fleet Management has worked in partnership with services and officers from procurement in order to specify, tender and procure further vehicles and associated items of specialist plant, suitable for service users’ needs and to coincide with contracts terminating through the financial year. Tenders are currently out for the replacement of specialist vehicles, plant & equipment for Greenspace and Streetscene, Waste Management and other front-line services. 

Replacement vehicles continue to filter through from suppliers for Roads and Environment, Property Maintenance and Social Services. The team at Fleet Management continue working to transfer systems and equipment and arrange the de-fleeting and disposal of the outgoing vehicles. 

The fleet service continues to support and manage Transport Operations for the provision of Additional Support Needs Transport service for Education and Integrated Health and Social Care, including delivery of school meals on behalf of the authority. This service has provided additional support for other services throughout the period.

The Corporate Health and Safety team provides a range of occupational safety and health services, including advice on statutory guidance, safety action notices, safe working and training, incident reporting and investigation, RIDDOR and support for services when requesting statistics under Freedom of Information requests as well as personal injury claims incident reports.  The H&S Team continues to work cooperatively with Trade Union colleagues to review statistics and other health and safety activities.

Ongoing comprehensive health and safety assistance is provided to services throughout the council, HSCP and EDLC, conducting multiple site visits to offer expert guidance, address emerging issues, and assist with the completion and review of risk assessments and safe contractor management.  During December, the team have been working closely with Greenspace, visits to culverts alongside Structures teams and flood risk engineer, Mugdock Country Park, Community Planning & Partnership, Fleet, Estates & Facilities, Education and School Improvement Team for projects based at schools, school play equipment inspection and other health and safety enquiries.

The H&S Manager participated in the Equally Safe at Work working group as well reporting at 2nd Tier H&S Committee meetings for Corporate, Education and attended HSCP H&S Sub-Group with NHS colleagues. The H&S Manager has been working at VAWG Partnership as vice chair, supporting the drafting of their strategy. The team were present at 3rd Tier (service level) meetings for Property Maintenance, Streetscene, Fleet, Waste and Transport. 

Education, IT and Customer Services teams were assisted with workplace assessments managing occupational health and individual risk assessments in collaboration with HR colleagues as well as supporting return to work assessments for long term absences. Display Screen Equipment and First Aid needs assessments are continually reviewed alongside line managers. 

Asbestos Awareness, Duty Holder and Fire Extinguisher training were conducted through this period for Education, as well as UFAS training for Estates & Facilities. Other training sessions delivered were H&S refresher for joiners in Property Maintenance as well as working at height and ladder safety. 

The focus continues for Construction Design and Management (CDM) compliance with a revised Scaffold Trade Specification for all council scaffold contractors and site visits, reviewing construction phase plans, risk assessments and method statements for refurbishment, roofing, drainage, demolitions, general estate repairs and new build and greenspace projects.  For D&I teams, Balmuildy PS new build and Milngavie PS refurbishment as well as other schools, Torrance Community Centre, Campsie Memorial Hall, Housing works all received several site visits and report together with Mugdock Country Park repair works and playground. The team participated in CDM meetings and site visits to LP&D’s Lennoxtown Main Street, amongst other projects. To support Estates & Facilities team in their CDM works, reviews were undertaken for repair works in educational establishments and other corporate buildings.

Fire Risk Assessments are conducted in accordance with the predetermined schedule.  Officers undertake routine inspections and continue to carry out site visits to address fire safety concerns, assess fire doors where required and support with personal emergency evacuation plans, offering expert advice. Lenzie Academy fire risk assessment action plan was reviewed as well as PPP secondary schools were targeted this month working together with Head Teachers, Estates & Facilities and the School Improvement Team as well as preparing for Scottish Fire and Rescue Services (SFRS) fire safety audits, which will be undertaken in January and February 2026. SFRS audits have taken place in some of our council sleeping premises and our fire safety officers have supported the audits post visit to address specific areas highlighted.

Roads Network Operations Teams (including Street Lighting)

Carriageway and Footway surface defects and service level agreements (SLA):

Between 01/12/2025 and 31/12/2025, we have identified 229 defects in East Dunbartonshire Council carriageways and footways. We have completed 183 repairs on time (approx. 79.91 %), 31 repairs late (approx. 13.54 %) and 15 repair (approx. 6.55 %) are in list for action and are still within SLA (incomplete).

Below chart compares our last three months performance:

Road Project & Maintenance Works October 2025:

Below table indicate the list of footway and carriageway capital resurfacing projects, Minor work, Road pothole Repairs committed in December 2025 in East Dunbartonshire Council areas.

Carriageways and footways Safety inspection

Between 01/12/2025 and 31/12/2025, East Dunbartonshire Council completed 9 scheduled safety inspections. None of these inspections are related to Footway inspection and all 9 of them related to carriageway inspections. All inspections were completed and comply with East Dunbartonshire Council tolerance between inspections dates. Details of these inspections are as below:

Winter Maintenance – December 2025

Between 01/12/2025 and 31/12/2025, we carried out 151 chemical actions (gritting) in East Dunbartonshire Council which 88 of these actions are related to primary carriageway routes. In total we used 509.52 tonnes of salt. Please see below report.

Routine Annual Gully Cleaning – Performance Data (01 April 2025 to 31 December 2025)
As part of our contribution to the How Good Is Our Service report, we are pleased to provide data on routine annual gully cleaning.

• There is a total of 6,746 gullies on primary and key routes within East Dunbartonshire. Between 01 April 2025 and 31 December 2025, a total of 5,185 gullies on these routes were attended for cleaning
•  On secondary routes, there are 23,054 gullies in total. During the same reporting period, we successfully cleaned 14,813 gullies on these routes.

This data reflects our ongoing commitment to maintaining drainage infrastructure and minimising flood risk across the road network. Please see below table. 

Structures

• 2025/26 General and Principal inspections programme ongoing.
• Review & response to abnormal load requests.
• Assisting other departments in the assessment of non-council assets. 
• Procurement process underway for FY 26-27 structures framework contract
• Procurement process underway for replacement of FB52 Clober Road Footbridge
• Burncrooks Bridge parapet repaired
• Graffiti. Ongoing removal.

Flooding 

• River Glazert Restoration Project, Lennoxtown - Progressing to tender development and progressing appointment for ECoW  On-going
• Kelvin Tributaries Project – Closing out termination with previous consultants and re-tendering on-going
• Mains Park Milngavie unknown culverted water course – Phase 1 investigations completed. Phase 2 investigations on-going.

Drainage 

• Civil works complete on Glenhead Road
• 2 weeks of revenue works complete surveying problem gullies
• Investigation works carried out on Hilton Terrace due to flooding and damaged footpath
• Investigation works at Mains Estate, Milngavie to determine cause of property flooding.

Development

• Site visits to monitor progress on developments currently under construction.
• Site meetings to inspect developments and identify remedial works prior to adoption by EDC.
• Assist planning with development applications, distribute to officers for their comments on potential future developments.
• Process road adoption enquiries from internal and external departments.
• Process road opening and temporary traffic management permits.
• Coordination of future works relating to development sites.
• Clachan of Campsie site into maintenance period.

Traffic

• 20 mph proposals for Bishopbriggs, Lenzie and Kirkintilloch approved by Council. Transport Scotland have approved increased funding for FY 25-26
• Commenting on various licences i.e. street trader licences, public entertainment licences, and occasional licences
• Commenting on planning applications
• Responding to Lining Requests and refreshing faded road markings and street signs throughout the area
• The mechanisation of School Crossing Patroller sites. Civils complete at Hunter, Alloway and Clober roads
• Transport Scotland Road Safety Improvement Fund on track for full spend on ‘children crossing to school’ road surface signs, high friction surfacing for a bend on Campsie Road with reports of the farmer having to retrieve vehicles from the field, and junction narrowing at Iain Road, Bearsden.

Streetscene Operations

• Street cleansing and associated tasks such as leaf litter sweeping; removal of fly posting and uplifting of fly tipping, mechanical street sweeping and installing replacement or additional bins
• Graffiti removal
• Ongoing cemetery operations, digging and carrying out interments, installing headstone foundations, benches etc
• Winter cyclical works ongoing; leaf fall removal and clearance; pruning of shrub beds and tree works 
• Checking and clearance of culverts
• Play Park inspection 
• Football pitch lining
• Responding to Customer Service Requests and complaints.
• Culvert grill cleaning and monitoring
• Arranging winter servicing of machinery
• Team Leader recruitment

Streetscene Technical Support

• Play Area Bishopbriggs Park – contract awarded  - start date February 26
• Play Areas  Westerton – contract awarded – now complete 
• Play Areas Kincaid (MOC)  - contract awarded  - now complete
• Play Areas at Angus Avenue/Fir Park – contracts awarded  - now complete
• Play Area at Stanley Drive – contract awarded – start date March 26
• Play Areas – annual external safety inspection complete – reports received – review ongoing
• Twechar Pump Track – tender returns received – award expected in January/February 26
• Cemetery Management Rules – Scottish Govt regs now being finalised and implemented prior to March 2026 – EDC rules will now be updated  for submission to committee probably for May 2026
• Headstones/Memorials Inspection  – inspections complete at Campsie Cemetery and New Kilpatrick Churchyard   – ‘make safe’ arrangements complete  in Auld Isle – make safe progressing to Campsie and New Kilpatrick
• Cadder Cemetery Extension – Planning application submitted – likely date for determination June 26
• Langfaulds Cemetery - consultants working to finalise design works for next phase
• Ash Dieback Survey on Roadside – further survey complete – analysis ongoing of trees identified – EDC or private and next steps
• Schools Estate – tree survey findings analysed – orders being raised for any priority works – these will be complete for February 26
• Storm Floris – number of trees across district impacted – clear up complete
• Storm Amy - number of trees across district impacted – clear up complete
• Climate Ready Park – almost complete – final works and reinstatement works now progressing 
• Etive Park Allotments – now fully up and running – Officers working with Allotment Holders to create an Allotment Association
• Community Growing Facilities – progressing improvement works via Shared Prosperity Fund – programme progressing for 25/26  
• Rosebank Allotments – Officers continue to liaise with Allotment holders and committee
• Nature Restoration Fund – projects identified for 25/26 and works now progressing  
• Management Plans – Lenzie Moss, Whitefield Pond, Cairnhill Woods and Heather Avenue – 1st year actions progressing
• TCV Partnership – environmental improvement works are priogressing on the John Muir Way  - 3 year programme in total
• Clyde Valley Green Network – liaison re EDC Wetland Strategy.
• Merkland LNR – Scottish Water undertaking infrastructure works to site – now complete  - reinstatement progressing – discussions with Scottish Water ongoing
• Firbank Avenue – path repairs undertaken and complete
• Glazert Project – team input into overall project re trees and biodiversity aspects – planning consent and construction both approved
• The team continues to respond to high volume of open space, tree and bereavement enquires, along with planning application consultations and complaints. 
• Team working with City Deal Team and Consultants in relation to Masterplan of Bishopbriggs Relief Road/Westerhill
• Planning application responses and support to Planning Team ongoing 
• Open Space audit work for input into the Grounds Maintenance System ongoing for Milngavie & Bearsden.
• Assisted a number of Community Groups with Litter Picking resources across EDC

Mugdock Country Park Park  

• This was MCP’s third busiest December since 2018

• The figure for the full calendar year was 835,413. This was our busiest year to date. 

Events

• There were 14 events hosted by Mugdock Country Park detailed in the table below. In total, 292 people participated in an event at MCP
• 5 of these events were sold out and the average booking capacity was 62%
• The pre-audited income including VAT was £2,120
• A new event was Mugdock's Muddy Mischief Makers which was inspired by our summer Creepy Crawly Club and this achieved 3 sell-out capacities.
  

School Sessions

• There were no school sessions in December 2025

General Free Events

• Mugdock Market
• Peek, Petals and the Deep Blue Sea Exhibition of paintings by Geoff Foord

Third Party Events

• Celia Sommers Sings: Music the Campsie Gallery
• Three Meet the Artist sessions: Geoff Foorde in the Campsie Gallery
• Fizz Gig Theatre presents Hansel and Gretel in Mugdock Theatre 

 Park Operations

• Regular work: Security, Fire inspections and servicing vehicles, deep clean of carpark of leaf fall, clearing of ground accessed gutters, weekly litter picking, daily emptying bins, dog bins, cleaning toilets, weekly courtyard deep clean, bin housings, tables etc., monthly park checks, toadstool trail, car park checks, winter weather gritting of paths and carparks
• Project work: Undertaking works to remove the dilapidated play area fence, assisting with walled garden planting for new bed design, assisting Ranger volunteers with Gallowhill Pond clearing project
• Reactive site maintenance: has included continuing tree work undertaking repairs of retaining wall in car park, painting of the rear of Maintenance Shed
• Income generation activities include undertaking set up of monthly market, delivery of the Reindeer Run, supporting the daily Pantomime, weekly banking, room booking set up. 

Ranger tasks include:

Over December there were 12 volunteer days with a total of 76 volunteers.  Tasks completed were: 

Gallowhill Pond

• Excavation of Gallowhill Pond. Day three of the project
• Excavation of Gallowhill Pond. Day four of the project
• Habitat piling cut veg from pond session yesterday
• Excavation of Gallowhill Pond. Day five of the project
• Excavation of Gallowhill Pond. Day six of the project
• Excavation of Gallowhill Pond. Day seven of the project
• Excavation of Gallowhill Pond. Day eight of the project
• Move pond vegetation from pond edges to dump areas
• Excavation of Gallowhill Pond. Day nine of the project
• Excavation of Gallowhill Pond. Day ten of the project
• Move pond vegetation from pond edges to dump areas and remove floating branches

Craigend Pond area

• Willow cut back and willow fence weaving in morning. Willow wreath workshop in afternoon using cut material
• Rhododendron removal
  

Visitor Centre – 

• Stock orders amounted to £867.36
• The total unaudited Retail takings for December 2025 were £3,755.61 inc VAT.  This is an 13.46% increase from December 2024, which achieved £3,310.02
• The largest sellers were Homeware followed by Clothing.  

Non retail (not audited) income comprised of: 

DONATIONS £93.91
LETS (Non Vat) £0
LETS (VATABLE) £210

Marketing / Communications

• The social communication campaign was centred on Winter Landscapes at Mugdock. 
• Paid for promotions were for Forest Family, Mugdock Muddy Mischief Makers, and Dogs in Jumpers. 
• Printed What’s On leaflets for January and February 2026 were produced and are available from shop.
• Event posters were placed at key locations including community noticeboards and supermarkets. 

Projects

• Play Area: Winning play area design announced on social media. Start date will now be February 2026. Sections of the fence have been removed in preparation for a new fence – required due to Storm Amy damage. 
• Decorative screen: Decorative screen was successfully awarded, due diligence visit to supplier took place, RAMS received and approved, and screen will be installed in wc 26 January 2026. 
• Walled Garden volunteering design for beds undertaken and plants sourced.
• There continue to be on-going issues with the septic tank. 

• The Clyde Valley Residual Waste contract accepted 1787.92 tonnes of general waste throughout December from our households and Street Cleansing Tems for recycling pre-sort, and then ongoing production of energy from waste. This was a reduction of 1.93% compared to December 2024
• The changes to the frontline collections have encouraged residents to utilise the food recycling available at the kerbside. We have noted an increase in food waste tonnage of 13.31% in comparison to December 2024
• We also note increase in kerbside plastic/cans/glass of 17.79% and 16.91% for kerbside paper/card in comparison to December 2024
• The garden waste kerbside collections have now ended for the season, and the service collected 6677.09 Tonnes of kerbside garden waste in 2025.
• The new improved welfare facilities for employees at Mavis Valley Household Waste Recycling facility are now fully operational, with staff now having on site access to drying facilities
• The team continue working with colleagues in Business Change to bring the Mavis Valley booking system in-house, the next phase has begun with the Waste Services Team testing the new system with a view to implementation late January
• The waste services team continue to utilise the new digital technology in the creation and delivery of efficient frontline collection routes. The team continue to work on the introduction of the technology to the Commercial Waste Service with a trial due to start early February
• The Team attended the PackUK webinar – Regarding Investment been given to Councils for extended producer responsibilities
• Waste Services Officers carried out unannounced contractor spot checks at our disposal facilities, to ensure site safety is being adhered to all times, any findings are then discussed at contractor meetings
• Mavis Valley Household Waste Recycling Centre received 11,776 bookings throughout December with an 86% attendance rate overall and customers booking on average 5 days in advance
• Waste Services supported Milngavie BID Christmas Markets with the provision of waste facilities
• The Waste Technical and Compliance Team dealt with 59 Corporate Complaints
• The Waste Technical and Compliance Team dealt with 610 general enquiries
• The team have been preparing the new artwork and correspondence ahead of the start of the 2026 garden season permits being released in January. 

• During the period 01/12/2025 to 31/12/2025 there were 209 vehicles/plant inspected/repaired in line with the servicing schedule and defect procedure
• 77.8% of jobs were completed within 2 days of being booked in.
• We currently have a variety of vehicles/plant on order to replace an aging fleet in line with the vehicle replacement programme
• Support Council services in the delivery of ASN Transport including the distribution of essential supplies for vulnerable individuals throughout the period including meals for early year’s facilities and lunch clubs etc
• Continued work on the management of Capital programme for the replacement of fleet assets through the financial year        
• Continued work on the CPC training programme, to ensure all drivers that require CPC training achieve this before the deadline to remain compliant
• Continued support to front line service operations through the provision of in-house fleet maintenance function including work on horticultural and construction plant equipment
• Management of Fleet Operations in compliance with Operator Licencing legislation with a DVSA Operator Compliance Risk Score of Green for both Traffic and Compliance 
• We continue to monitor external hires
• The team worked extremely hard during this period to ensure the frontline services had enough vehicles/plant during the period to carry out their duties
• Work is ongoing to replace the fleet management system.