How Good is Our Service - January 2026

Click to enlarge.

Voids performance in January is at 84%, which is down from 88% in December and is below 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. The service is expecting significant improvement in turnaround times by the end of the financial year with performance being maintained thereafter.

Property Maintenance have achieved our target of 100% for Gas Servicing in January with 375 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 January exceeds our target of 12 days with an average turnaround of 11.14 days for the month, which is down from 10.74 days in December.  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. 

Work had started in preparation for the new menu change in 2026 which reflected the feedback we had received from pupils and schools this year. However, given recent discussions with Food for Life, an application for reaccreditation is being pursued based on the menu meeting their criteria. As a result, the current menu will run until the end of this school term.

The uptake in school meals within the Secondary schools was higher than last month at 59%. This represents the highest uptake in school meals for a number of years. The Primary School uptake in school meals for January was 73% which is the 4th month in a row the uptake has been above 70% and is the highest monthly uptake since June 2025. The service continues to focus on schools not achieving the set target with action plans implemented to improve the uptake in lower performing schools. The service continues to work with suppliers to source locally produced produce, with 52% of the school menus now using locally sourced produce.

Nine of the first fifteen new mechanised crossing points have now been installed with school crossing patrollers previously located at 4 of the 9 locations now relocated to alternative locations. The recruitment exercise for additional school crossing patrollers is ongoing with a view to staffing all vacant crossing points which are not currently or due to be mechanised. The Roads service have confirmed all 15 crossing points will be completed by Easter 2026.

Following the 20% reduction in cleaning across the Council’s Corporate estate, a new cleaning model has now been agreed and is currently being implemented. The service is progressing the recruitment of 900+ weekly cleaning hours across the East, West and Central locations. Over 500 hours have been offered to existing staff and external candidates with more interviews scheduled for February.
The service has robust measures in place to monitor performance with regards gas safety compliance across the Operational Estate. EICR’s are being progressed across all educational properties over the coming months, with Lenzie Academy, St Machans PS and Lennoxtown PS completed this month.

Officers continue to progress reactive repairs across the operational estate, although currently focusing on H&S related repairs and ensuring assets remain wind and watertight. Millersneuk PS suffered a burst pipe on return from the festive break which has been resolved. Works are progressing to replace the biomass flue at Castlehill PS, with works scheduled to begin early March 2026. 

Estates Management continue to market vacant premises within the non-operational estate. At present the non-operational estate is over 94% occupied, with vacant suites in Southbank Marina being actively marketed by agents, DM Hall. The closing date for offers for of Lenzie Public Hall was Friday 30th; Officers are currently reviewing offers. 
 
Officers continue to progress disposals with colleagues in Legal Services to ensure that capital receipts are delivered and ongoing liabilities i.e. non-domestic rates, utilities, security etc are reduced. 

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

Final design and pre-construction actions remain in progress for the Westerhill Development Road project. The target construction start remains Easter 2026, pending approval of the Final Business Case from the City Region. 

Works have now reached completion at Bearsden Community Hub to remove and replace RAAC from the roof on the extension at the rear of the building with preparations now on-going of the re-opening of the building to the public in March 2026.

The refurbishment of Milngavie Primary School (completion July 2026) continues to progress well, with the roofs now replaced in full and the tented scaffold due for removal in March. The construction of a replacement Balmuildy Primary School also continues to make good progress, with superstructure works now well progressed. The refurbishment of Torrance Community Centre is also reaching its final stages and 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, with a determination expected in May 2026 ahead of the project Stage 2 report in June 2026.

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 revised Learning Estate and Corporate Property Asset Management Plans, due for approval by Council in March 2026, include proposals for the decarbonisation of the Council’s learning and corporate estates.

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 remain 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 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 remains 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 March 2026 before work commences in April 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.

Click image to enlarge.

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 January 2026, 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 on the delivery of a health and safety intervention at local sunbed salons and local air quality monitoring and action planning activity also featured heavily during the reporting period.

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 January, 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 providing business support and enforcement in relation to unlicenced premises. Trading Standards Officers and Police Scotland continue to liaise to build intelligence around the supply of illicit tobacco within East Dunbartonshire.

Supporting families and individuals’ remains central to our work. The Resettlement Team continues to provide comprehensive tailored support to families arriving through humanitarian programmes. Collaboration with local organisations has enabled the delivery of targeted engagement conversations for asylum seekers currently living in East Dunbartonshire, with further community connection events planned. These sessions aim to help individuals build local networks, access appropriate services and opportunities, including volunteering.

The community vaccination programme continues to play a vital role in protecting the health and wellbeing of our residents in partnership with Greater Glasgow & Clyde NHS, two weekly clinics are currently delivered in Kirkintilloch Town Hall and Milngavie Town Hall ensuring accessible local provision.

Community development activity continues to reflect a proactive and inclusive approach. Planning is underway for further delivery to the Health Issues in the Community course, while the wellness kitchen programme continues to grow, with sessions demonstrating positive impact. These initiatives strengthen social connections, build skills and confidence and support individual resilience.

The second round of the Community Grant Scheme has now closed. Officers have completed the due diligence and scoring for the 91 applications, with recommendations to be presented to Grants Advisory Committee.

In line with commitments set out in the CLD Plan 2025-27, including the Local Child Poverty Action Report, work continues in partnership with the CLD Workforce Development Group to support practitioner gatherings and workforce development.

The Equalities Agenda is also progressing with embedding Equality Outcomes and supporting the development of the Equality Action Planning Forum (EAPF), which will act as the mechanisms to ensure these outcomes are effectively integrated across service delivery. A range of associated training opportunities is being facilitated to support his work.

In collaboration with the Asset Manager and Legal Services, the team continued to promote greater awareness of the Community Asset Transfer Policy.

Finally, preparations are underway for a programme of activities and events to mark International Women’s Day delivered in partnership with local communities and organisations.

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 3,478 applications - made up of the following:

General Waiting list    
2,609 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    
615 applicants (12 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 (Homeless)   
252 applicants (9 of which are on offer) 
(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 (Urgent medical)
2 applicants (0 of which are on offer)
(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, 9 of which were general needs mainstream and 1 was general needs amenity (over 55’s) type properties.

They were let to the following queues:

• 5 to the priority homeless queue
• 2 to the transfer queue
• 3 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
• Environmental Health Officers have commenced a health and safety intervention of sunbed salons in relation to bulb strengths that users are exposed to. They have been joined by Trading Standards Officers who are conducting product safety checks for items on sale
• Environmental Health Officers have been investigating an accident at a local supermarket which resulted in the injured employee suffering multiple fractures. The supermarket has since put in measures to prevent the accident reoccurring
• To ensure local air quality standards and protect public health, a vehicle idling awareness initiative at 5 local primary school has started in order to assess driver compliance
• Comments have been provided to Food Standards Scotland on a consultation regarding proposed changes to increasing the time between food law inspections for certain food premises types. Environmental Health are responsible for examining compliance in over 800 food businesses, a risk based system, with those that are better performing receiving less frequent visits and conversely, more interventions to those below standard
• 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
• Continued programme of Junior Wardens presentation at various primary schools across the council area
• Investigation of a fly-tipping offences with enforcement action being taken (including fixed penalty notice activity) under the Environmental Protection Act 1990
• 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
• Enforcement and advice visits following the removal of a trader’s liquor licence
• Conclusion of investigation of multiple fashion items believed to be infringing registered trademarks and proposed enforcement action
• 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 continues to take place, 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 continues to deliver the outcomes and priorities within the CLD Plan 2025-27, including the Local Child Poverty Action Report
• Community development colleagues continue to be embedded in our priority communities, working alongside community to develop sustainable, compliant thriving community organisations, support addressing poverty and inequalities
• 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.

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

• There were two 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 the new Nominations Agreement
• Ongoing regular attendance 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 improvements 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 a new Steering Group to re-establish and implement new procedures for processing and issuing Tenant Recharges
• Attendance at 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 monitor 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 improve performance
•  Ongoing work to reduce the voids, - liaising with the Property Maintenance to streamline this process
• Ensuring all ASB cases are actioned in a timely manner with joint working with Community Safety and Police Scotland as appropriate
• Ensuring turn-around times on void properties reduces, and offers are out with applicants on these properties
• 31 households made a homeless application during January 2026 compared to 10 in December 2025
• 6 households were supported by the Homelessness Out of Hours Service, there were 20 last month
• 12 households were moved to temporary accommodation. No households were placed within unsuitable accommodation. To date the Council has not breached the unsuitable accommodation order
• New Rapid Access accommodation opened at Industry Street (Housing support onsite 24/7 provided by Blue Triangle). Of the 7 rooms x5 are currently occupied.

Key areas of focus in January for the Communications & Engagement team included the Ward 3 by-election, launch of the Garden Waste permits and the Twechar pump track consultation. Media relations were quieter this month due to the festive holidays and the by-election with 2 releases issued (10 in December), zero photocalls, (three in December) and 15 media enquiries dealt with (34 in December).

All releases are on the Council website news section and the local coverage achieved equated to an equivalent advertising value of £1,115 (£9,384 in December).

Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn all saw increases in followers with the most popular posts this month relating to Mugdock Park playpark, garden waste permits and Council vacancies.
Across the Council’s four social media channels the average engagement rate was 9.4% (a good engagement rate is 0.5, anything above 1 is deemed great).

The Council website had 252,366 visits (excluding internal traffic) with the most popular page Bins, Waste and Recycling receiving 40,390 views.

There were 13,174 call-to-action button clicks. 

The most watched video on Facebook was for the Twechar pump track consultation with 7,213 views and on YouTube it was the meeting of Licensing Board with 31 views.
One video was created this month with 39 design jobs completed overall.

In January 2026, 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 January the Customer Services team handled a variety of enquiries and requests for service including 9,493 telephone calls and 134 appointments and 658 drop-in customers in Community Hubs. These figures are an increase on the previous month. 

January was a cold, frosty and busy start to the new year, the team logged 81 gritting requests and enquiries. Garden waste permits were available to purchase mid-January, over 8,000 were bought online within the first few days, a further 441 were purchased via the customer services team by phone or in person at a community hub, this will likely peak in February. 

The team began using the recently developed hub appointment booking function in the Customer Relationship Management system (CRM). Customer service agents will use this to book appointments for a short period of time before it is made available to customers for self-service appointment booking on the website. This is part of our approach to increasing digital access to services, ensuring customers have greater choice in how they engage with the Council. 

The Emergency Response Centre team continued 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. Development of the digital call handling platform, 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 20,383 community alarm activations and 556 out of hours calls across January, similar to the previous month. 

The project to replace analogue community alarm telecare equipment in the Council’s sheltered housing properties progresses with work begun on the second of six sites; the ERC team ensures data is accurately input to the system and newly installed community alarm equipment is tested and working providing a seamless transition to a digital service for our vulnerable sheltered housing residents. 

Progress is also being made with the Town Centre CCTV replacement project, various cameras will be brought online over the coming weeks and training on the new system will begin in early March.

Recruitment is undertaken for vacancies in both the Emergency Response Centre and Customer Services teams; interviews will take place in February. 

Training and refresher training continues across the team improving knowledge. A key area of focus continues to be customer enquiry response times not only for answering telephone calls but handling email, online and social media enquiries promptly. 

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 for 2025/26 is the contimued development and implementation of our new Oracle Fusion HR and Payroll system (HCM), requiring significant input from across HR&OD teams.

Communications & Engagement

• Promotion of Early Years and Primary School registration
• Design of the Senior Phase Partnership Prospectus 
• Signage, social media and website updates announcing opening date of Bearsden Hub
• Design and promotion of a range of assets for Mugdock Park including what’s on guide, digital adverts, spring assets and pine marten posters
• Delivered communications for EDLC’s Local History Month including design of brochure and poster, media release, webpage, social media assets and video
• Promotion of key awareness days including Holocaust Memorial Day and Winter safety and Parent Club.

Corporate Performance

• Work is continuing to progress the annual renewal of the Council’s insurance arrangements
• A budget benchmarking exercise to assist with Council budget setting for 2026/27 and beyond was completed for consideration by SLT
• A session and discussion around complaints handling best practice and procedures was delivered to the Education management team
• Free text analysis of the Council Budget survey was prepared for consideration by SLT to inform future budget setting
• The Q3 Complaints handling report was prepared for distribution to SLT
• Continued assistance was provided 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

• Various projects across the team progress including hub appointment bookings, replacement of analogue community alarm equipment and Town Centre CCTV replacement.
• Further recruitment undertaken to fill vacancies in both the Emergency Response Centre and Customer Services teams. 
• A key focus for the team continues to be customer enquiry response time.

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.
• In conjunction with TUs and stakeholders developed the Councils Sexual Harassment and revised Dignity at Work polices to be considered by Policy & Resources Committee. 
• 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.
• 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 HR and Payroll project, whilst managing operational work. 
• The People Development team delivered sessions across a number of topics including SMART Working, Induction and EDC policies. Continued support by team in the facilitation of statutory training in key areas to ensure continued compliance and certification. In January, 52 delegates received training across a range of topics. 

Click to enlarge.

The ongoing Coding & Gaming Project, funded through the Public Library Improvement Fund, has identified that many of the activities appeal to young people with various neurodivergent aspects. To gain better insight into working constructively with these groups the project team is collaborating with a local charity, Creatovators, who support young people and adults with autism to feel safe and learn integration skills. This month the library service Children & Families team attended a training session to gain insight into Creatovators methods. There are plans for Creatovators to attend Saturday activity days across the library estate in the coming months. 

Due to popular demand Bookbug sessions have been increased, to include Saturdays at two venues each month. 

Hillhead Primary School invited the Children & Families team to their wellbeing day – a day of nurturing to beat the winter gloom. During the day every class was read a story followed by an activity, such as origami.

As part of the service’s programme to help tackle loneliness, Milngavie Library introduced a Learn to Knit Creative Crafting session, which was fully booked. This new session adds to the very popular Craft & A Cuppa programme which offers a variety of activities, giving people the opportunity to drop in, try out new things and meet new people. 

The Archives & Local Studies area at William Patrick Library was closed to the public for two weeks to allow our partner, Ancestry, access to the collections. As part of EDLCT’s 10-year agreement with the online family history provider, the Ancestry team digitised 14,000 images which will be shared on the Ancestry platform, making East Dunbartonshire’s collections more widely available. EDLCT will also be provided with access to the digitised collections. Despite the two week closure, Archives & Local Studies received 582 visitors and responded to 173 enquiries. 

The Auld Kirk Museum opened its first exhibition of the year, showcasing the work of a wide range of portrait, landscape and wildlife photographers. The Lillie Art Gallery began the year in style with an exhibition from the Royal Glasgow Institute of Fine Art. This year marks the 130th anniversary of royal status for this prestigious arts group. 300 visitors attended the opening which was hosted by Provost Gillian Renwick.

Kirkintilloch Town Hall and Kilmardinny House hosted 59 individual events including a Burns celebration, choirs, karate groups and ongoing support to NHS vaccination clinics.

Volleyball CPD Training Course

The Active Schools team recently hosted a volleyball CPD training course in partnership with Scottish Volleyball at Lenzie Academy where 10 new coaches were shown a range of training practices and games. The newly trained volunteer coaches will now be hoping to deliver extra-curricular volleyball sessions in secondary schools and cluster primaries.

Woodland View Ceilidh

7 schools from across East Dunbartonshire attended the Inclusive Ceilidh Dance showcase event at Woodland View school which was organised in partnership by Active Schools and Woodland View staff. The pupils learned a range of traditional Scottish dances and all schools performed their chosen dances in front of the live audience.

Whole Family Wellbeing Fund - Gymnastics

The whole family wellbeing fund programme has continued to progress with the introduction of 3x gymnastics sessions in the Allander LC. Participants from Woodland View have been attending the Allander LC for a 45-minute session delivered by our Community Sports coaches. Each session has 8 participants who will be attending for a 10-week block until Easter.

Community Coaches In-Service

We recently delivered coaches in-service to all the community sports coaching working in the term time programme. The in-service was delivered to over 35 of the contracted and casual coaches, providing updates on child protection and the roll out of the new community sports coaches code of practice.

FUNdamentals

Our fundamentals programme has continued in the Kirkintilloch LC since we retuned in January. The sessions have continued under the pay as you go model which we hope to continue until Easter to provide affordable activity for children in the local area.
Leisuredrome 

The centre’s usage figures were sitting at an increase of 6.1% from the same period last year, with a total count of 51,564 compared to 48,568 for 2024/25

Allander Leisure Centre

Headcounts at the Allander continue to outperform 2024/2025 with a cumulative total of 518,850 compared to the 476,681 to the end of period 10. The only activity that is not up on last year is swimming. There has been a drop off in swimming in both income and participation. This will be an area of focus going forward.

M&B Swim Club held a swim meet in the early part of January, and the main pool was enjoyed by the local club and visitors to the area.

Kirkintilloch Leisure Centre

The overall headcount at Kirkintilloch was above that of the same period last year by 7.6% at 24,109. Gym and Wetside usage was up 9.6% and 10.7% respectively. Group Fitness class usage was identical to Period 10 of last year. Outdoor and Club usage was down slightly which is not unexpected for the time of year.

Click image to enlarge.

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

• The Imagine Leadership group continue to make very good progress towards developing and enhancing the Leadership offer for practitioners across all sectors. Working collaboratively with colleagues in HR and People Development support programme for Primary Depute Head Teachers and participants in the Into Headship programme has been developed for Session 2026/2027
• A working group has been established to review, develop and update the Procedure Manual 2-28 – Implementing the GTCS Framework on Teacher Competence
• Members of the Imagine Curriculum group have completed a pilot audit entitled ‘How Good is our Sustainable Learning Setting’. Following a further review of the data collected, this framework will be updated and employed by all centres and schools to plan their priorities in order to meet Target 2030.

School and Early Years Centre Awards and Achievements

• Holy Trinity’s Primary 6/7 won the East Dunbartonshire Sumdog competition
• Oakburn EYC, Meadowburn Primary School and Meadownburn Bun-Sgoil have been awarded the full STEM Nation award.

Early Years, Primary, Secondary and Supporting Families

• Early Years Learning Partnership Group (LPG) sessions for heads, deputes and managers continued with a focus on improving learning and teaching underpinned by the improving our pedagogy with a focus adaptive teaching. Following on from moderation of Standard and Quality Reports and the great increase in the use of improvement methodology in centres, we revisited how centres use data to plan continuous improvements and how to involve staff in evaluating improvements through their champion roles
• There has been a focus on leadership learning opportunities and motivational ways to involve staff in self-evaluation. This prompted great discussion in a range of creative ideas that some centres use which will be shared across centres. Leaders were also provided with a range of signposting to develop their leadership. Most centres were in attendance and the feedback from centres was very positive
• The senior early years worker’s and team leaders LPG continued with a focus on developing their leadership capacity focusing on introducing The Curriculum Improvement Cycle (CIC) with a task linked to the Standard for Childhood Practice in aspects around curriculum development. This provided senior practitioners opportunities to reflect on their role and evaluate their strengths in this area. A senior early years worker attended the session and presented on her leadership role, how she supports practitioners within her setting sharing examples of monitoring, modelling, peer observations. This led into how seniors are involved in driving improvement on the floor, data collection, reporting and self-evaluation. We hope this will prompt discussions within leadership teams in how they capture the impact of improvements and how this is then used to improve and report on positive outcomes for children
• Following feedback from the group, we revisited the Being Me Under Three tracking tool. This provided an opportunity for centres to ask questions and discuss their stage of implementation and how it is supporting planning for children under 3 years old. The discussion evidences the increase in the number of centres who have adopted the tool in their centres and staff reporting a positive impact on staff confidence
• A third practitioner led session was hosted by a senior early years worker and equity and excellence lead who had attended train the trainer sessions on delivering on promoting early language skills. They provided practical solutions and tools to developing language skills to young children that they had tested within their settings
• Scottish Government Outdoor Learning Officers attended the Early Level Play Pedagogy session, attended by sone forty practitioners across early level. They provided an informative and practical session in promoting the benefits of outdoor learning for children
• The Numeracy Development officer has been working with a team of maths champions to develop the ‘Numeracy in Equity’ framework. First draft has been completed, and work is now focussing on the development of an online Numeracy hub to support professional learning for teachers
• The first Nurture in Early Years session of 2026 focused on children’s charters and child voice where practice sharing from three early years centres informed of how they have included children in creating new environments to enable quiet spaces for children; offering children opportunities to share their feelings and including children in risk assessing and keeping safe whilst in their settings.

ASN and Children’s Services

• A presentation to both primary and secondary head teachers provided a clear and coherent overview of current Attendance guidance, SEEMiS coding expectations, and Children Missing in Education (CME) guidance supporting consistent understanding and application across all schools. Feedback and professional dialogue during the session indicated increased confidence among head teachers in interpretating statutory guidance and in applying agreed procedures within their individual school contexts
• A refresh in Child Protection and Safeguarding was delivered to nursery staff strengthening their understanding of statutory responsibilities, local procedures and professional roles in protecting children. Staff engagement and feedback indicated increased confidence in recognising concerns, responding appropriately and following agreed pathways. An additional session has been scheduled for delivery to additional early years Deputes demonstrating its impact and relevance across early years provision. This reflects effective leadership and continuous improvement in safeguarding practice
• Principal teachers of Guidance and Enhanced Learning Resources (ELR) received professional development improvement in tracking, monitoring and responding to pupil attendance with particular emphasis on accurate recording through SEEMiS and timely identification of children at risk of poor attendance
• The Whole Family Wellbeing plan has commenced delivery a Sleep programme to parents within the Kirkintilloch area. Themes of support include teenage sleep, sleep anxiety and supporting sleep for children with Additional Support Needs
• 16 multi-agency staff have attended Talking Mats training, all staff identified ways in which they could use Talking Mats to gather the views of Children and Young People effectively within their own practice.

Educational Psychology Service (EPS)

• Play Pedagogy Meta Skills pilot was launched at the Curriculum IMAGINE Group. 2 schools shared their practice and implementation documents were provided (Collaborative Practitioner Enquiry and Audit Toolkit)
• Education Scotland led a Professional Learning Community (PLC) on play, outdoor learning and sustainability and shared documents to support EYC and school’s understanding of their roles as practitioners in tackling climate change
• Across education and social work, ten professionals have completed their Level 3 NVR training, and three professionals have completed Level 4A NVR training. A follow-up evaluative meeting was held for NVR Level 1 practitioners. Nearly all participants attended this session. Evidence was shared of how NVR was being used in daily working practices
• Early Years’ practitioners came together to share practice re: Chidren’s Charter and SHANARRI characters. 3 EYCs presented their work and shared resources
• Primary practitioners came together for professional learning on Nurturing Boundaries. Many of them visited a Glasgow Nurture Group to compare provisions
• The first PLC of the session took place and was attended by representatives from 5 secondary schools. Attendees were provided with an overview of the FVWL Self-assessment. Each school also provided an overview of attendance work happening in their school in response to SIP targets. Planning will continue to focus future PLCs on the needs of those attending with an additional focus on analysis of data to inform targets and work.
  School Planning and Improvement
• Development commenced for an evacuation/invacuation process for all Education establishments, working with Health & Safety to draft
• Primary & Secondary School Registration closed at the end of November and analysis is complete with regards to allocations to each school showing the indicative numbers prior to placing requests process being complete
• School pupil projections for future intakes was finalised showing the detail with regards to analysis using relevant data predicting the pupil numbers for catchment schools for future years. This exercise is performed every year and updated. This supports the workforce planning for schools but also provides detail to Estates and Assets for any planned adaptations
• Lenzie Academy new build consultation continues with the school for finalising plans, prior to Major Assets submitting the planning application
• Milngavie Primary School Refurbishment Project continues to progress well with expectation that school will return over the summer break
• The planning application for Milngavie Early Years replacement building has been submitted for consideration and awaiting feedback from Planning to Major Assets
• Balmuildy Primary School continues to progress at pace with the steel structure presently being installed to the concrete slab.
  Skills for Life, Learning and Work
• Madilyn Wilson who is our Architectural Technician Apprentice based in Asset Management, has been shortlisted for the Association of Public Sector Excellence 2026 Apprenticeship Awards. The final awards ceremony will take place in Glasgow in March. The work Madilyn has undertaken on Torrance Primary, Gartconner Primary School modular classrooms, Bearsden Community Hub and energy efficiency projects were highlighted as part the application submission.

Click image to enlarge

Finance 

The month of January 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 finalising the 2026/27 budget position, in order to provide a balanced position in a highly challenging financial context.

Revenues & Benefits

The Revenues and Benefits team have continued to progress Council Tax and Benefits services and administration of the Scottish Welfare Fund. 

The Council Tax Collection Rate at 91.21% is behind the target of 91.79% 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 1,314 tickets in January and dealt with 220 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 Infrastructure Team have completed the installation of just under 800 interactive panels across the entire Education estate. The £1 million investment will modernise and enhance the curriculum delivery in all schools. The team continues to monitor the underlying infrastructure to ensure maximum performance.  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 £1,048,037 are £148,099 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 January 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 and against HMRC are both nearing completion; the savings and additional income identified now total £0.4m. . Further NFI matches were released in December in respect of people in receipt of care packages, identified savings of approximately £0.140m.  

An application was submitted to the Cabinet Office to join a working group being established to assist in the identification of Second Homes & Empty Properties. This application was successful and the group will commence work in May 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.

The team has experienced difficulties in obtaining information from certain data holders, who can now only release information under the provisions of the Investigatory Powers Act 2016. Policy is required to be developed and committee approval obtained to ensure that the investigatory process is not compromised and to ensure our compliance with legislatory legal requirements.  

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 which can be finalised on the completion of the 23/24 audit.
• 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:
  
  • 2,710 Council Tax bills and 9,500 Benefits notifications; and,
  • 470 crisis grants and community care grant applications were received.
• The team received and dealt with 1,380 documents for Council Tax queries and reduction and 43 for benefits. In addition, the team received 2,200 ATLAS notifications from DWP.
• The team dealt with 2,320 telephone enquiries.

  ICT Services 

• ICT Services are working closely with the Business and Digital Change Team to implement M365. 
• The Infrastructure Team:
  
  • Completed the installation of new interactive panels across the Education estate
  •  Replaced 135 obsolete laptops with new Windows 11 laptops. Carried out the in-place upgrade of 342 laptops from Windows 10 to Windows 11 across the corporate estate
  • Reviewed the equipment required forBearsden Hub in preparation for re-opening.
• ICT Security have:
  
  • Addressed remediations for the annual IT Health Check.
  • Maintained the Council’s perimeter defences.
  • Implemented reporting system for Internet Monitoring to help improve performance across the Education estate.

Shared Services

• The Residential Team added 85 service agreements to CareFirst for clients moving into care homes or for supported living services within their own homes. 
• The Homecare Team added 351 service agreements to CareFirst for clients receiving a homecare service or a direct payment
• Direct Payment Audit Team – 17 standard audits completed for clients receiving self-direct support
• The EMA Team dealt with 17 Education Maintenance Applications in January, 4 were processed through SEEMiS, 13 require further information.

Housing Rent and Tenant Participation

• Active Tenant Rent Arrears were £1,048,037 which is a decrease of 12.38% on same period as last year (week 43)
• 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
• 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
• A Tenant Participation Working Group meeting held at Hillhead Community Centre, Kirkintilloch. This was attended by tenants, tenant representatives, elected members and EDC staff.

Business & Digital Change

• 3 system environments, resolved 11 incidents, assisted with 7 projects and continued contributing to the Windows 11 rollout
• Significant progress has been made in migrating or decommissioning databases hosted on unsupported servers, alongside the secure migration of legacy data required to be retained for compliance
• Improved HCM governance processes implemented. The team continue to focus on completion of parallel payroll reconciliation, user acceptance testing, and clearing key programme backlog items
• Rollout of Digital Telecare alarms continues at pace, with 88% of residents now fully equipped for the transition
• Sheltered Housing modernisation – The team continue to work at pace, with another site now complete and two more scheduled in. Resident meeting took place in Hillhead Community Centre which was well attended
• CRM Development continues, with the new Community HUB booking system now live. Replacement system for Mavis Valley recycling centre is now complete and awaiting launch with the service. Mugdock Park booking system is now in user testing phase
• A recent data tidy up was completed for children’s services, with a plan to expand this to adult services to ensure caseloads are current and manageable
• The first iteration of the Disclosure Scotland replacement has been delivered with positive user feedback and minimal changes.

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. The Audit & Risk Manager is expected to transition back into her role from February 2026
• 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.  A target date of the end of March has been set for completing the NFI exercise so that results can be included in the Audit Scotland NFI report
• 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. 

Click image to enlarge

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 January 2026, the HSCP performed above target on two of its three identified performance indicators. Details of the one indicator performing below target are included below.

Key Achievements:

• The HSCP Workforce Plan 2025-2030 was formally approved by the Integrated Joint Board, our strategic workforce priorities and setting a clear direction for future workforce sustainability, development and transformation
• Promotional activity in support of:
  
  • Henry Healthy Families: Right from the Start programme
  • Scottish Recovery Network Peer Connects webinar

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.

Click to enlarge

Land Planning & Development have progressed a number of significant work streams during January 2026 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 work with relevant internal services to address the matters set out in the Reporter’s recommendations, and a revised Evidence Report will be taken to Council for approval at the soonest possible date
• In order to address the Reporter’s recommendations, the Land Planning Policy Team have contacted the stakeholders that had previously commented on the Indicative Local Housing Land Requirement to advise of a proposed minor methodological change, and to give those stakeholders an opportunity to comment on the change. The period for comments will end on 18 February 2026. Any comments received will be taken into account in preparing the revised Evidence Report
• The Land Planning Policy Team has received a request to consider trees at Whitegates Park in Lenzie for Tree Preservation Order status. Officers have been assessing the request and a report on the matter is expected to be considered at Policy and Resources Committee on 03 February 2026
• The Land Planning Policy Team has received a proposed Local Place Plan (LPP) from Lenzie Community Council. All LPP’s received by the Council are to be placed on a ‘Local Place Plan’s Register’ on the Council’s website where they demonstrate that the minimum requirements legislative requirements have been met. A report on the registration of the Lenzie Local Place Plan is expected to be considered at Policy and Resources Committee on 03 February 2026
• Work with consultants on the preparation of an Urban Greening Factor to support the development of LDP3 has begun
• 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.

• Following the public consultation on the draft Climate Action Plan, details of input received are being written up in a report of consultation which will be taken to Council alongside the final CAP. A request for updates from executive officers on progress on actions within the draft Climate Action Plan was also issued
• A presentation was delivered in 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 held in January 2026 to help to finalise the study in the 2025/26 financial year
• Updates were made to the Council’s School Travel Plans based on engagement with colleagues across the Council. This will ensure that the plans align with forthcoming work of relevance
• Additional work was undertaken to refresh the Council’s Parking Management Plan to reflect progress on a range of relevant Council, regional, and national transport initiatives and to prepare an updated version
• Further preparations were made for an Employee Travel Survey so it is ready to be issued 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
• The eight Active Travel Strategy evidence reports that were taken to by PNCA in January 2023 have been reviewed and are being updated to reflect more recent local, regional, and national developments
• 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
• Input was provided to Climate Ready Clyde on Council adaptation work to inform the forthcoming Climate Ready Regions Project Pipeline and potential funding for the Nature Based Investment Study was discussed
• 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 Council’s three-year contract with ESRI is due for renewal and the process has been initiated by ICT to ensure continuity of GIS services
• The school placement requests work on distances will commence next month and officers are working to programme the work with colleagues in the Education Service
• The Team are currently working with a number of Teams across the Council on a range of GIS projects including Greenspace Strategy Mapping, Secondary Gritting zone maps, Mapping support for FOI. The Team also continues to provide support in the preparation of LDP 3, Kirkintilloch heat network study and the Council’s Open Space Audit
• A GIS Service & Error Reporting Action app continues to work well with service users utilising the software
• 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 regular upgrades of the NEC system in preparation for moving on to Phase 2
• Systems officers are assisting with day-to-day processing of direct debits and the set-up of rent accounts in both Test and Live environments and continue to monitor/escalate issues as they arise. Officers can now utilise bespoke reporting functionality within IHMS
• 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 on behalf of ALACHO 
• Policy officers continue to review the Council's Allocations Policy in line with phasing in of IHMS. Further policy work supports development to the IHMS ensuring that governance sits behind features and enhancements to the NEC system
• Policy officers attended training on the introduction of The Housing (Scotland) Act 2025. Officers will consider the implications of the 2025 Act and will deliver training to staff on emerging changes to policy or practice
• 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
• The Chubb project team are working closely with Housing and B&DC teams to ensure the successful transition of analogue telecare to digital telecare throughout the sheltered housing complexes. Three in-person briefings to tenants have been delivered to answer queries and help planning on site activities. Two of the six complexes are complete to date with positive feedback from tenants
• 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. Wardens will receive training from ERC staff to programme pendant devices should any be lost or broken that will streamline the process and provide tenants a more immediate response
• The Housing Estates officer is delivering health and safety training to Concierge officers and Wardens and is responsible for delivery of Toolbox talks on various topics to maintain knowledge of standards and procedures when carrying out duties in relation to their duties. 

• 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 is 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 120 new Start Ups recorded at the end of December 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 (NB: approval was given at GCR Chief Executives Group 16th February) 
• 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. This will support Design work for improvements to Balmuildy junction
• 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. 

• 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. Work is underway with the Glasgow City Region to understand how the new Local Government Fund allocation will be distributed
• The Lennoxtown Main Street Improvement Project is in the construction phase, and will run until summer 2026. This will see major enhancement to the village centre environment improving the Main Street as a trading environment, somewhere to access local services, and to visit
• 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. The centre is being run by the Twechar Community Action. 
• 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. 

• 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 and programme setting of Stage 1b
• 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 49 applications and validated 58 applications. 
• The Building Standards team have received 72 building warrants and approved 70 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. 

• Assessment of Whitegates Park in Lenzie for Tree Preservation Order status, 
• Renewed partnership working with Police Scotland on the promotion of compliance at the traffic free school zones.
• Completion of the remaining telecare installation at all Sheltered Housing complexes.

Click on image to enlarge

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:

• Roads Network Operations
• Roads Technical & Engineering
• Streetscene Technical Support (including Bereavement and Arboriculture)
• Streetscene Operations (including grounds maintenance, street cleansing and cemetery operations)
• Waste Services (including domestic & commercial waste & recycling collections)
• Fleet Services (including fleet operations, maintenance, and transportation)
• Mugdock Country Park
• 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 January, 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 01/01/2026 and 31/01/2026, we have identified 317 defects in East Dunbartonshire Council carriageways and footways. We have completed 239 repairs on time (approx. 76 %), 18 repairs late (approx. 6 %) and 55 repair (approx. 18 %) are in list for action and are still within SLA (incomplete).
Below chart compares our last three months performance:

Road Project & Maintenance Works January 2026: 

Below indicates the list of footway and carriageway capital resurfacing projects, Minor work, Road pothole Repairs committed and closed in January 2026 in East Dunbartonshire Council areas.

Bearsden

• Thorn Drive - carriageway capital resurfacing programme 2025/6
• Buchanan Drive - Carriageway drainage upgrades due to flooding/freezing
• Milngavie Road - Replace polished inspection cover on carriageway
• Ralston Road - Carriageway capital resurfacing programme 2025/26
• Duntocher Road - Carriageway Anti-skid Installation - off peak working
• Thorn Drive - Carraigeway and Footway junction improvements
• Rosslyn Road - Footway Capital Resurfacing Programme 2025/26
• Wyvis Avenue - Footway Surface Defect Repairs 
• Strathyre Gardens - Footway Surface Defect Repairs 
• Inveroran Drive - Footway Surface Defect Repairs 
• Greenwood Drive - Footway Surface Defect Repairs 

Bishopbriggs

• Kirkintilloch Road - Carriageway Drainage Survey 
• Allan Glen Gardens - Carriageway Surface Defect Repairs
• Kenmure Lane - Carriageway capital resurfacing programme 2025/26
• Spynie Place - Footway Surface Defect Repairs

Kirkintilloch 

• Woodhead Avenue - Carriageway Surface Defect Repairs
• Woodhead Avenue - Footway Surface Defect Repairs 

Lennoxtown 

• Kincaid Drive - Carriageway Surface Defect Repairs
• North Birbiston Road - Carriageway Surface Defect Repairs

Lenzie

• Cedar Drive - Carriageway Core Samples taken for future resurfacing
• Willow Avenue - Carriageway Core Samples taken for future resurfacing
• Rowan Crescent - Carriageway Core Samples taken for future resurfacing
• Orchard Brae - Carriageway capital resurfacing programme 2025/26

Milton of Campsie

• Munro Drive - Carriageway Surface Defect Repairs
• Willow Drive - Carriageway Surface Defect Repairs

Torrance

• Balmore Road - Carriageway Drainage CCTV Inspections - off peak working

Carriageways and footways Safety inspection

Between 01/01/2026 and 31/01/2026, East Dunbartonshire Council completed 12 scheduled safety inspections. None of these inspections are related to Footway inspection and all 12 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- January 2026:

Between 01/01/2026 and 31/01/2026, we carried out 252 chemical actions (gritting) in East Dunbartonshire Council which 160 of these actions are related to primary carriageway routes. In total we used 1068.88 tonnes of salt. Please see below report.

Routine Annual Gully Cleaning – Performance Data (01 April 2026 to 31 January 2026)

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 are a total of 6,746 gullies on primary and key routes within East Dunbartonshire. Between 01 April 2025 and 31 January 2026, 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 near completion. Some CCTV surveys outstanding
• Review & response to abnormal load requests
• Assisting other departments in the assessment of non-council assets
• Structures framework contract now out to tender
• Procurement process underway for replacement of FB52 Clober Road Footbridge. Expected to go out to tender February
• Contractor appointed for FB04 Westerton Footbridge improvement works. Works to commence in February
• Contractor appointed for SCC12 West Board Twechar Main St parapet heightening works. Work to commence in March as temperatures rise
• Review and approval of various aspects of A807 Active Travel design.

Flooding 

• River Glazert Restoration Project, Lennoxtown - Progressing to tender development and now appointed ECoW for project. Landowner agreement being discussed via EDC Legal for Licence of occupancy
• Kelvin Tributaries Project – Terminated contract with previous consultant. SEPA agreement being reviewed by legal before project is re-tendered in new financial year
• Mains Park Milngavie unknown culverted water course – – Phase 2 & 3 investigations completed awaiting findings for EDC review and next steps. Ongoing. 

Drainage 

• Emergency civil works completed at 47 Buchanan Drive Bearsden causing flooding to footpath
• CCTV and root cutting works carried out at Mains Park, Milngavie to find route and condition of culvert located in area of park
• CCTV investigation works at Balmuildy Road Junction as part of active travel corridor road improvements. 

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
• Christmas Embargo added to Roads Register for 1 December 2026 to 3 January 2027
• SRWR Inspections for Q3 2025/26 have been agreed and sent for invoicing
• FPN issued for January 2026
• All Capital and Footway surfacing Notices recorded on Register for year 2026/27.

Traffic

• Completion of the Moor Road/ Strathblane Road junction Improvement project
• Installation of another 6 School Safety markings
• Junction narrowing of Iain Road, Bearsden (funded by Transport Scotland) underway
• The mechanisation of School Crossing Patroller sites is ongoing with civils work completed at 11 sites. Some power connections are outstanding
• Consultation for the latest round of disabled parking is complete
• 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.

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
• Replacement of damaged bins
• Responding to Customer Service Requests and complaints
• Removal of dead animals and excess waste at recycling centres
• Arranging winter servicing of machinery.

Streetscene Technical Support

• Play Area Bishopbriggs Park – contract awarded - contractors onsite
• Play Areas Westerton – contract awarded – now complete and open
• Play Areas Kincaid (MOC) - contract awarded - now complete and open
• Play Areas at Angus Avenue/Firpark – contracts awarded - now complete and open
• Play Area at Stanley Drive – contract awarded – contractors onsite
• Play Area Eastside - contract will be awarded imminently for replacement equipment - to be completed prior to end of March
• Play Areas – annual external safety inspection complete – reports received – review ongoing
• Merkland Play Area – contractor appointed to remove all equipment as per Technical Note – this to be progressed in February
• Twechar Pump Track – tender returns received – award imminent
• 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
• Tree Planting – programme progressing across the district – works predominantly in Bishopbriggs due to low canopy coverage in this area
• Climate Ready Park – complete 
• Etive Park Allotments – now fully up and running – Officers working with Allotment Holders to progress 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 - all progressing 
• Management Plans – Lenzie Moss, Whitefield Pond, Cairnhill Woods and Heather Avenue – 1st year actions progressing
• TCV Partnership – environmental improvement works are progressing 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
• 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 – January 2026 footfall – 63,507

Events

• There were 9 events hosted by Mugdock Country Park detailed in the table below. In total, 82 people participated in an event at MCP
• 1 of these events was sold out and the average booking capacity for January 2026 was 47%
• The pre-audited income including VAT was £620. This is a decrease from January 2025 which achieved £1,014. This is attributable to fewer Saturday events, as a consequence of increased weekend volunteering opportunities. 
  

Free Events:

• Dogs in Jumpers 
• Ceila Sommers Sings in The Campsie Gallery

Exhibitions: 

• Peaks, Petals, and the Deep Blue Seas
• EXPLORE! An Exhibition of Works by John Hutchinson. 
  School Sessions: 
• There were 3 Mosshead Primary School.

Park Operations

• Regular work: Fire drill, servicing vehicles, edging of carpark of leaf fall, clearing of ground accessed gutters, sweep of paths, 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: Installing new play park fence, stump grinding and chipping in Children’s Forest in preparation for new Play Area. Removal of self seeded birch trees in gallowhill, clearing Adventure Trail with Community Pay Back Volunteers, finishing up tasks with Scottish water Project, co-ordinating with drainage contractors for new drainage. 
• Reactive site maintenance: Oversight of works to the Switch Room, painting of the shed
• Income generation Courtyard design work for Easter events, weekly banking, room booking set up.

Ranger tasks include:

The table below details the Land Management tasks undertaken in January 2026. As part of this, there were 8 volunteer days with a total of 62 volunteers. Tasks completed were: 

Overview Field:

• Brushcut brambles along section of old playpark fenceline

Lower Peiches Moor Crag - end:

• Rhododendron removal and burn on-site

Craigend Ave

• Tree felling and processing in preparation for chipping
• Tree felling and processing in preparation for chipping
• Tree felling and processing in preparation for chipping
• Tree felling and processing in preparation for chipping

Gallowhill Pond

• Excavation of Gallowhill Pond. Day 11 of the project
• Excavation of Gallowhill Pond. Day 12 of the project
• Excavation of Gallowhill Pond. Day 13 of the project
• Excavation of Gallowhill Pond. Day 14 of the project. Final session of winter 2025/26.

Moothill/Craigend Avenue

• Tree felling and cross-cutting of rowan and sycamore on Moothill and Spindles on Craigend Avenue

Craigend Field

• Brush cut raspberries and brambles around the fringes of the field and remove material.

Gallowhill 

• Chipping
• Tree felling and processing in preparation for chipping

WHW Drumclog

• Ditch work, limb removal, litter pick and gorse cut back on path.

Moothill

• Removal of present boardwalk in preparation for installation of replacement boardwalk.

Mugdock Wood

• Exclosure work. Moving of existing exclosures to new sites within the bracken area and erecting of new exclosures.

Visitor Centre –

• Stock orders amounted to £904.76
• The total unaudited Retail takings for January 2026 were £1,970.56 inc VAT. This equated to January 2025, which achieved £1,985. As with December 2025, the largest sellers were Homeware followed by Clothing.

Non retail (not audited) income comprised of: 

DONATIONS £40
LETS (Non Vat) £430
LETS (VATABLE) £408
FILMING AT KHYBER FIELD £500

Marketing / Communications

• The social communication campaign was centred on historic Images of Gallowhill. 
• Printed What’s On leaflets for January and February 2026 are available from shop.
• March What’s On event posters are displayed at MCP and locally. 

Projects

• Play Area: Begins 09 February 2026. 
• Decorative screen: Installation is planned for WC 02 February 2026. Electrical design for the bandstand lights were commissioned and awarded. 
• Works were undertaken to the Switch Room in readiness for the CCTV extension project. 
• Works took place to divert rainwater from the septic tank as part of the Waste Water project. 

• The Clyde Valley Residual Waste contract accepted 1692 tonnes of general waste throughout January from our households and Street Cleansing Tems for recycling pre-sort, and then ongoing production of energy from waste. This was a reduction of 13% compared to January 2025
• We also note increase in kerbside plastic/cans/glass of 1% and 5.24% for kerbside paper/card in comparison to January 2025
• Mavis Valley Household Waste Recycling Centre received 11,525 bookings throughout January with an 82% attendance rate
• The Service started a new contract following a full procurement exercise with Enva at Linwood for the processing of the Councils waste containing POPs (Persistent Organic Pollutants) from WUDS (Waste Upholstery Domestics) 
• The team have continued work with colleagues in Business Change to bring the Mavis Valley booking system in-house. The next phase began with colleagues in Information Technology adapting new tablets for the operatives on site pending a start date in the weeks ahead
• There were 26,000 emails sent out to all our Garden Waste Permit holders from 2025 to make them aware of the new live link prior to the start of the 2026 Garden Season commencing
• The Garden Waste Permit site went live in January to allow customers to purchase the permit before the service commences in March. The early live link proved successful with 3046 permits were dispatched in January 2026
• The Service commenced a full route Commercial route review in late January, utilising our new digital technology to improve and optimise the overall service. This aim is to make the routes more controlled and efficient all while improving waste separation and preventing recycling contamination
• Quarterly contract meetings with all our Waste contractors were held by the team throughout January
• 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 22% in comparison to January 2025
• The Waste Services Officer attended The Scottish Environment Agency Waste Data Flow user group meeting Waste Data Flow is the SEPA regulated system for recording all authority waste data
• The Waste Compliance Officer attended and participated in the Scottish Governments second co-design workshop for the new household recycling Code of Practice
• The Waste Technical and Compliance Team dealt with 12 Corporate Complaints
• The Waste Technical and Compliance Team dealt with 889 general enquiries.

• During the period 01/01/2026 to 31/01/2026 there were 231 vehicles/plant inspected/repaired in line with the servicing schedule and defect procedure
• 68% of jobs were completed within 3 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
• Work is ongoing to replace the telematics system.