How Good is Our Service - March 2026

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Voids performance in March is at 69%, which is down from 79% in February and is below our target of 85%. There have been a significant number of longer-term properties returned in the month requiring high-cost repairs which has impacted on turnaround times. 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 early in the next financial year with performance being maintained thereafter.

Property Maintenance have achieved our target of 100% for Gas Servicing in March with 365 properties serviced in the month. We continue to achieve our target each month, and we are confident this will continue during the year

Non-Emergency repairs performance in March exceeds our target of 12 days with an average turnaround of 11.51 days for the month, which is down from 11.17 days in February. 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 increased by 11% this month, the jump in uptake is consistent with the reduced number of school absences over March compared to February. The 65% uptake is still significantly higher than the target of 55%. The Primary School uptake in school meals for March increased from 62% the previous month to 72.18% this month. Whilst slightly lower than the target it still represents a significant number of Primary pupils choosing school meals. 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 54% of the school menus now using locally sourced produce.

Ten of the first fifteen new mechanised crossing points have now been installed with school crossing patrollers previously located at 4 of the 10 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. Following the recruitment drive in March, 5 applications have been received, with one interview completed and another 4 scheduled for April. 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 600 hours have now been filled with further interviews scheduled for April following a very successful recruitment open day at Auchinairn Community and Early Years Centre.

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 Hillhead Primary School and Bearsden Community Hub 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. Works to repair the external wall at Oxgang Primary School commenced late March and should be completed in mid-April.

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.
 
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.

The construction delivery agreement for the Westerhill Development Road project was agreed in March 2026 and preparations are now underway for the contractor’s mobilisation and works commencing in May 2026.

Bearsden Community Hub successfully re-opened to the public in March 2026 with all works now complete

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. The building will be re-opened to the public in early May 2026.

Council approved the Stage 1 report for the Lenzie Academy project in December 2025. The project planning application was submitted in February 2026 and has now been validated. A separate planning application for proposals at the existing school site at Myrtle Avenue, Lenzie is now in preparation. Pre-application consultation events were held at the end of February and at end March ahead of the submission of the planning application, expected late April.

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 June 2026. The project Stage 2 report will also be submitted to Council for approval 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 financial year. The revised Learning Estate and Corporate Property Asset Management Plans were approved within the Council’s revised Corporate Asset Management Plan and include proposals for the decarbonisation of the Council’s learning and corporate estates, including Phase 1 priority sites which will form the basis of activity in the coming financial year.

The delivery of several areas of on-going capital investment across the Council’s existing affordable housing stock continue, including several significant measures to improve housing quality and energy efficiency. The tender has now been issued 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 next phase of the Mixed Tenure roofing programme is now underway.

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 April 2026 before demolition commences in April 2026.

At Twechar Canalside, the construction of 15no. affordable Passivhaus houses continues to make good progress and continues to be on schedule for completion in September 2026.

• 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 area going forward
• Improved functionality of Total Mobile and the integration with Servitor enables a more streamlined and efficient service
• 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 April and May
• Improve uptake of nutritious school meals
• Improve communications with customers and stakeholders to ensure the highest level of service delivery
• Reduce FM overtime.

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The Community Protection Service delivers on a broad statutory remit, with delivery measures centred on protecting public health and safety, well-being and consumer protection. During March 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 encompasses both proactive work such as routine inspections for food safety and reactive responses to environmental public health complaints and service requests. March was a busy month for the team carrying out several inspections and investigations including out of hours work.

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 March, Trading Standards continued project work on the testing and compliance of medical weighing devices within GP Practices in East Dunbartonshire. A significant number of Freedom of Information requests and other enquiries in relation to nicotine vaping products were received and processed. Integrity Challenge 25 test purchasing was carried out by Trading Standards and Licensing Advisors in relation to nicotine and alcohol respectively. Licensing Advisors were engaged in 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 and Officers attended the SCOTSS/HMRC training on illicit tobacco.

A well-received programme of events was delivered to mark International Women’s Day 2026. We are continuing to work collaboratively with communities to take forward key issues around women’s issues and safety, linking closely with our Violence Against on and Girls Partnership.

Alongside colleagues in Asset Management and Legal Services, we continue to promote the Community Asset Transfer policy, supporting communities to take greater ownership of local assets.

We are making steady progress in embedding our equality outcomes across services, with plans underway to convene our first Equality Action Planning Forum.

Work is progressing well with the CLD Workforce Development Group to support CLD practitioners’ development and the CLD practitioner critical thinking workshop as part of the West Alliance Learning Festival was well received, support connection and reflective practice across a range of CLD strands.

The second round of the community grant scheme has now closed with recommendations of Grants Advisory Committee approved by the Community Planning Partnership board at their meeting end of March 2026. This represents continued investment in our community and third sector, strengthening local capacity and resilience.

Our community development approach remains inclusive and proactive planned health-focused courses will prioritise engagement with quieter voices and support our 6 priority families identified through our Local Child Poverty Action report.

Supporting families remains central to our work across both teams. The resettlement team continues to provide tailored responsive support to families arriving through humanitarian programmes, alongside ongoing assistance to Ukrainian Displaced People settling within our communities. We are also maintaining close engagement with asylum seekers in East Dunbartonshire through our targeted community connection conversations. These efforts are helping to build relationships, with further events planned to strengthen integration and promote positive community cohesion. In addition, we continue to work alongside East Dunbartonshire Welcomes Refugees to support the families they have sponsored.

Our community vaccination programme continues to play an important role in supporting residents’ health hand wellbeing, with two weekly clinic operating in Milngavie and Kirkintilloch in partnership with Greater Glasgow and Clyde NHS.

Housing manages 3,906 social rented properties; 3,817 of these are mainstream accommodation and 83 are used for Homeless Temporary Accommodation. The service also manages 48 Lead Tenancies which are rented from either private landlords (27) or Housing Associations (21), to assist with accommodating homeless households.

At present, the Housing list for East Dunbartonshire has 3,444 applications - made up of the following:

General Waiting list 2,581 applicants waiting (five 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 597 applicants (10 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 264 applicants (17 of which are on offer) 
(Homeless)
(Applicants who have no accommodation or will have nowhere to stay within the next two months. This queue does not allow the applicant to choose area or house type).

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

Within the last month, 23 properties were allocated, 22 of which were general needs mainstream and one was sheltered.

They were let to the following queues:

• 10 to the priority homeless queue
• six to the transfer queue
• seven to the general waiting list queue

Environmental Health, Trading Standards and Community Safety Teams

• Delivery of effective services on a flexible basis to meet all statutory requirements and duties in relation to public health, community safety, consumer protection and licensing enforcement matters
• Delivery of local Co-Production activity between Community Protection and Police Scotland, with particular focus on effective tasking processes and the delivery of joint action plans and work to protect the communities of East Dunbartonshire
• Delivery of Business Improvement Plan activity relating to Community Protection - actions being implemented in accordance with set targets to deliver effective services in line with relevant corporate outcomes and with positive performance being reported
• Delivery of regulatory services that assist with economic recovery and that are designed to support local businesses and communities
• Officers had to serve an enforcement notice at a Bishopbriggs tenement which had a blocked sewage pipe causing discharge to a back court area
• A series of vehicle idling patrols were undertaken by Environmental Health staff focused primarily at local schools where complaints have been received
• There has been noticeable increase in requests to investigate abandoned vehicles including discarded caravans.
• Environmental Health hosted Scottish Government and other council representatives in a first meeting relating to the Good Food Nation Plan that the council must create
• Funding bids were submitted to the Scottish Government with respect to the ongoing monitoring of local air quality
• Officers undertake further out of hours work at evenings and weekends to undertake assessments on noise and intrusive light complaints
• 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 several officers 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
• Fly-tipping offender found guilty by Crown Office & Procurator Fiscal Service and received a £550 fine as well as a requirement to pay £190 in compensation for the loss and damage to the Council
• 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
• Integrity test purchasing carried out in relation to nicotine and alcohol products at retail level
• Training attended for upskilling in relation to illicit tobacco
• 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

• Well, received programme of events as part of International Women’s Day delivered, which will inform Violence Against women and Girls, and future 16 days of action
• A total of programme of wellness kitchen sessions for families and young tenants is building skills, confidence, and social connections. Opportunities to expand this work with third sector partners are being explored to further support wellbeing
• In partnership with Greater Glasgow and Clyde NHS, the Community Vaccination Programme is being delivered locally, helping ensure residents can easily access vaccinations within their communities
• The team is delivering on the priorities set out in the CLD Plan 2025–27, including actions within the Local Child Poverty Action Report
• Community development colleagues are working closely within priority areas, supporting local people to build strong, sustainable community organisations and helping tackle poverty and inequality
• The Resettlement and Community Planning Partnership teams have agreed new plans aligned with the Council’s wider priorities, and are working closely with partners at both local and national level 
• Alongside this, the Resettlement Team is working with internal services to deliver welcome and community connection events for asylum seekers, helping people understand available support and feel more connected in their local area.

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

• There were nine nominations from the Housing waiting list sent to a Registered Social Landlord operating in East Dunbartonshire to be considered for allocation to their housing stock. Discussions are ongoing with Clyde Valley Housing Association to agree new Nominations Agreement
• Ongoing regular attended this month included Housing Liaison meetings where cases of relevance to Social Work, Community Safety and Police Scotland are discussed, MARAC meeting with other agencies, CPC MISE group to discuss Child Protection issues, Safe and Together forums,  2-weekly meetings of the Community Harm and Risk Meeting (CHARM) with Police Scotland, Community Protection, Trading Standards and Licensing and regular meetings with Legal Services regarding dispute over title deeds in the housing estate, NOP’s and other legal matters
• Housing continues to review processes and make changes to them where possible to allow for a more customer, person centred approach
• The new on-line CRM system training has been issued for Housing staff using the system and now up and running
• The team is part of new Steering Group to re-establish and implement new procedures for processing and issuing Tenant Recharges
• Attendance at new two-weekly Community Harm and Risk Meeting (CHARM) with Police Scotland, Community Safety, Trading Standards and Licensing officers continues
•  Attendance at East Dunbartonshire Safe and Together steering group is ongoing
• Hold monthly budget meetings with HRA accountant to keep abreast of costs. Weekly meetings with Void Team at Property Maintenance to focus on improving performance. Monthly attendance at new Housing/Social Work liaison meeting to discuss Throughcare cases and Unaccompanied Asylum-Seeking Children
• Monthly void property meetings with Property Maintenance to endeavour to improve performance
• Work to reduce the Voids, - liaising with the property maintenance to streamline this process
• Ensuring all ASB cases are investigated
• Ensuring turnaround times on void properties falls and offers are out with applicants on these properties
• X22 households made a homeless application during March (34 previous month)
• Of the 34 appointments arranged; 12 failed to attend (33%)
• X12 households were supported by the Homelessness Out of Hours Service (5 previous month)
• Officers completed back to basics training 
  • Investigation 
  • Decisions 
  • IHMS 

Key areas of focus in March for the Communications & Engagement team included the Council budget, City Deal updates and changes to Waste services.

Media relations increased this month with 14 releases issued (7 in February), two photocalls, (three in February) and 23 media enquiries dealt with (22 in February.)

All releases are on the Council website news section and the local coverage achieved equated to an equivalent advertising value of £8,808 (£4,768 in February).

Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn again all saw increases in followers with the most popular posts this month relating to the 200th anniversary of the Monklands and Kirkintilloch Railway, progress on the Bishopbriggs town centre project and the completion of Campsie Memorial Hall’s refurbishment.

Across the Council’s four social media channels the average engagement rate was 2.8% (a good engagement rate is 0.5, anything above 1 is deemed great).

The Council website had 216,300 visits (excluding internal traffic). The most popular page was the Bin collection schedule tool with 33,379 views.

There were 10,000 call-to-action button clicks. 

The most watched video on Facebook was a sneak peek of Campsie Memorial Hall with 29,800 views and on YouTube it was the meeting of the Council on Thursday 5 March with 462 views.

Six videos were created this month with 51 design jobs completed overall.

In March 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 March the Customer Service team handled a variety of enquiries and requests for service including 10,085 telephone calls, the team also served 206 appointments and 1023 drop-in customers in Community Hubs. This represents an increase on the previous month across all contact channels. 

With essential repairs completed, Bearsden Hub re-opened in March, a most welcome return for all services delivered from the Hub including Council Customer Services as well as Library Services and hall bookings. 

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 21,204 community alarm activations and 528 out of hours calls across March, an increase on the previous month. 

The project to replace analogue community alarm telecare equipment in the Council’s sheltered housing properties progresses with work completed in the third of six sites and work begun on the remaining two 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. It is anticipated this project will be concluded in April.

Recruitment for both Customer Service and Emergency Response Centre Agents was completed in March with the successful candidates joining their teams when all recruitment requirements are in place. 

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.

Communications & Engagement

• Delivered communications to make residents aware of the decommissioning of bring sites with website updates, social media, press release, telephone message and internal messaging
• Supported the Scottish Parliamentary Elections for the Strathkelvin and Bearsden constituency with key messaging on social media and website updates including Notice of Election. Promotion of Welcome to Vote Week was also carried out
• Co-ordination of two key recruitment campaigns for personal carers and school crossing patrollers including design, social media, print advertising and telephone messaging
• Work carried out for Mugdock Park includes the development of a new logo, car park signage and red squirrel video
• Continued promotion of consultation events for the Lenzie Academy project including signage, posters, online survey, website updates and social media
• Promotion of key awareness days including Scottish Apprenticeship Week, No Smoking Day, World Autism Acceptance Day, Brain Tumour Awareness Week, Earth Hour and lighting of buildings for International Epilepsy Awareness Day.

Corporate Performance

• A report on Local Government benchmarking performance was prepared for scrutiny at April Council alongside 6 monthly HGIOS reports for 2025/26
• Work commenced for the preparation of Business Improvement Plans 2026-29 and related performance management guidance for 2026/27
• Submission papers were completed for the annual renewal of the Council’s insurance arrangements
• Continued assistance was provided to the change team in relation to the rollout of Oracle Fusion
• Data support and assistance continued to be provided in the ongoing service reviews in the Health and Social Care Partnership.

Customer Services

• Bearsden Hub re-opened following the completion of essential repairs
• Recruitment is concluded to fill vacancies in both Customer Services and Emergency Response Centre
• Work continues in sheltered housing complexes to replace analogue community alarm equipment

Human Resources & Organisational 

• Continued engagement with the Trade Unions on strategic and operation HR initiatives, including service reviews and policy development.
• Continued support for employees and managers on HR policy based and guidance noted, with support in attendance on ER case work
• Within Payroll Services, the team have maintained and processed the payover of the various payruns within timescales, with the completion of a series of statutory
• Payroll continue to support the Year End cycle
• In preparation of new pay rates for Local Government Workers from April, preparatory work undertaken by HR & Payroll teams
• The HCM Project Board, continues to provide oversight and governance in support of moving to the new HR/Payroll system.
• Teams across HR and Payroll continue to undertake series of milestones and output required as part of the HCM project, whilst managing operational work
• The People Development team delivered sessions across a number of topics including SMART Working, Induction, EDC policy sessions & Leadership Topics
• Continued support by team in the facilitation of statutory training in a number of services areas to ensure continued compliance and certification
• In March, 199 delegates received training across a range of topics
• Working with services to develop next iteration of Training Needs Analysis.

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As Kirkintilloch Leisure Centre approaches its 20th year of operation with a building lifespan also of 20 years, Kirkintilloch Operations Manager and Maintenance Assistant continued work on a condition audit of essential major facility repair and replacement items, which was presented to EDLC General Manager and EDC Executive Officer Major Assets, with associated costs and prioritisation scheme for various pool, pool and building plant, roof and car park items.

In March 2026 following competitive tender Sportex Group were awarded the £750k project to upgrade the synthetic surfaces and athletics provision at Huntershill Sports Hub. The work will commence no later than Monday 4 May 2026. East Dunbartonshire Council had also committed to carpet replacement and pitch layout redesign at Merkland and in addition committed a further £1M towards a longer-term redevelopment of the entire Merkland site as part of the emergent Merkland Master Plan. 

Period 12 saw a couple of pool events at the Leisuredrome. First, Scotia held their mini-league meet on Saturday 21 March, which was a great event and feedback from Scotia and visiting clubs was very positive of the facility and staff. Then on Friday 27 March the Scottish Schools Championships took place. Leisure Officer Justin McGaughrin reached an employment milestone by achieving 40 years of service, past and present employees gathered to celebrate with Justin. 

Charlie’s Big Adventure Soft Play produced a head count just below 3000 which was the highest of the year. Gym headcount increased 3.7%, Group Fitness by 7.5% and swimming by 4.2%, leading to an overall increase of 8%.

Bearsden Library re-opened on 16 March, following the period of closure for repair and refurbishment works as a result of the discovery of RAAC within the building

The Children & Families team supported Local History Family Day at William Patrick Library with a special Bookbug session based around stories and rhymes from 100 years ago. Families also had the opportunity to dress in period costume and play with authentic toys of the past including wooden spinning tops and girds & cleeks.
Bishopbriggs Library made the front page of the SLIC (Scottish Library & Information Council) website with their Inside Out project, which is using Europe Challenge funding to transform outside space around the library.  The project is a partnership with Bishopbriggs Community Council. 

William Patrick Library entered into a new partnership with Beloved Rabbits, a rabbit re-homing charity in Kirkintilloch. Old newspapers from the library are now collected by Beloved Rabbits and used to line the rabbit cages, saving the charity the expense of puppy training pads.

William Patrick Library also worked with the EDC re-settlement team to welcome another family of New Scots to the library. The family all became members and will now benefit from the wide range of free services available. 

Milngavie Library hosted an open day to launch the annual Milngavie Heritage Group exhibition.

Period 12 saw a total of 25 primary school and nursery visits to libraries across East Dunbartonshire. While “The Wee Green Library” electric van was out and about delivering 18 outreach visits to communities not served directly by a library branch. 

Archive & Local Studies received 2,563 visitors and 530 enquiries. Local History Month took place throughout March, delivering 24 events which were attended by 329 people. The events were supported by 17 volunteers.

Two high profile exhibitions opened this month with the prestigious RGI (Royal Glasgow Institute) opening at the Lillie Art Gallery; and the Monklands and Kirkintilloch Railway Exhibition was officially opened by the Provost of East Dunbartonshire. Both exhibitions proved popular and received 1,954 visitors during the period.

The service received 5,262 digital visitors to Museum, Archive and Local Studies collections across Art UK, Trails and Tales, Flickr, the EDLC website and social media platforms.

The Heritage & Arts team  supported visits from 44 Milngavie Primary school pupils who toured three heritage sites in Kirkintilloch and took part in various indoor and outdoor heritage and learning activities.

Kirkintilloch Town Hall and Kilmardinny House hosted 106 events including talks, a health event, youth groups, cinema screenings and weddings.  While 247 people attended the adult and children’s arts workshop programme delivered across three venues. 

March has seen some great sporting events take place across our schools and community, supported by our Community Sport and Active Schools Teams:

• Woodland View v Abercorn Secondary School- Football Match
  Pupils from Woodland View played their first match against Abercorn, supported by their teachers and Community Sport Coaches. 
  
  ‘It was a fantastic game; both teams gave it their all and it was great to see every player get plenty of game time. Playing 9-a-side on the grass was a brilliant experience for them, and I was especially proud of the respect shown by everyone after the final whistle. The most important thing is that they all seemed to really enjoy it.’
  Craig Lister, Community Sport Coach
• Scottish Schools Swimming Gala- The ASCS team ran the qualifiers for the national Swimming Gala on the 27 March. Supported by volunteers from local swim clubs and teachers, the event saw 60 swimmers compete from across ED Secondary Schools
• P7 Football Festival- 210 pupils from 21 primary schools took part in a football festival hosted at Huntershill in Auchinairn. The event was ran by the Community Sport team, and provides a valuable opportunities for football participation throughout the year.

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

• The co-chairs of the IMAGINE Leadership group have presented and shared the Leadership Strategic Framework with ADES QUAD colleagues. Shared strengths and opportunities for development have been discussed across the QUAD to identify areas for shared development work
• Thomas Muir Primary Schools Quality Review identified the following particular strengths of the school:
  • The senior leadership team and staff have created a calm, welcoming and supportive learning environment which fosters a sense of belonging
  • Highly effective approaches to ensuring children’s wellbeing have created a highly inclusive and responsive environment
  • Confident, well-mannered and enthusiastic children who are proud of their school and demonstrate their school charter in their interactions with each other, staff and visitors
  • The school is highly valued across the community with strong relationships and partnerships impacting positively on children’s experiences. 
• A Quality Review took place in Bearsden Academy and ELR. The Review Team’s evaluations demonstrated the high quality of provision across the school with ratings of Excellent for Leadership of Change and Raising Attainment & Achievement. Learning, Teaching & Assessment and Wellbeing, Equality and Inclusion were evaluated as Very Good. Aspects of practice identified as sharing more widely included the work of the Pupil Improvement Team and Pupil Parliament, that demonstrated a significant impact on whole-school improvement planning. The outstanding CLPL programme, including the "CLPL Café," which fosters a culture of practitioner enquiry and the co-designed BGE Pupil Leadership Award (SCQF Level 4/5). The Review Team also identified the school’s strong reputation for sharing high-quality practice within the local authority and with national bodies, and the highly effective DYW partnership approaches to support system-wide improvement.

School and Early Years Centre Awards and Achievements

• Colquhoun Park Primary School and Early Years Centre was awarded their 10th Eco Schools Green Flag, recognising a twenty year commitment to environmental education. This is excellent accomplishment and a first for East Dunbartonshire
• Oakburn Early Years Centre hosted their national STEM Nation event following their achievement in completing the STEM nation award. Thirty practitioners from across the West Partnership attended the event and the feedback was very positive
• Craighead ELC submitted a successful application and evidence towards the first stage of the UNICEF UK’s Rights Respecting Schools Bronze Award
• Westerton Primary School have achieved their Gold Rights Respecting Schools Award in recognition of the work they are doing to promote Children’s Rights.

Early Years, Primary, Secondary and Supporting Families

• A series of Professional Development Group (PDG) meetings took place involving all curricular Principal Teachers in secondary. Discussion focused on verification procedures, effective digital approaches to support learner engagement and the Curriculum Improvement Cycle
• Education Scotland and Skills Development Scotland (SDS) hosted an event for secondary school Developing the Young Workforce (DYW) staff on the use of the My World of Work Learner Profile. Schools will be integrating the use of the profile to support pupils to reflect on their skills development and achievements
• 12 practitioners from primary and secondary, have submitted their outline case studies for the Improving Our Classrooms Masters accreditation programme, with a view to completing their Case Study of Improvement by May 2026. They are currently participating in trio visits across schools in order to enhance and support their own professional learning
• The annual Euroquiz competition took place at Douglas Academy on 18th March 2026, with all 32 primary schools taking part. Clober Primary won the heat and will represent East Dunbartonshire Council at the final in Edinburgh in June
• Over 120 representatives from East Dunbartonshire's Primary, Secondary and ASN Reading Schools attended the EDC Reading Schools Showcase Event at Douglas Academy organised by the Literacy Development Officer. The event recognised efforts to foster reading for pleasure and an opportunity for staff and learners to share practice. Local authors Stuart Reid, Lindsay Littleton and Victoria Williamson attended the event allowing pupils and staff the opportunity to hear first-hand about their journeys as writers
• As part of Early Level Play Pedagogy Practitioner Learning Community to share practice on play pedagogy, a week-long of cross authority visits took place with Early Years Centres in Glasgow, including both council and partnership centres and Primary School. 4 EDC Early Years Centres and 2 Primary Schools offered visits and 5 centres from Glasgow. The sign up for sessions proved popular, with almost all spaces allocated
• The Numeracy strategic working group has completed a draft Equity in Numeracy framework and work has started on the online Numeracy hub to further support improvements in teaching & learning specifically targeted at closing attainment gaps
• Professional learning for early level maths champs has focussed on outdoor learning with almost all EYCs trialling our new outdoor maths audit, leading to improvements in provision
• Since October, 18 schools and 35 classes across P4-7 have been participating in the STEMspace project in collaboration with Glasgow University. The aim of the project was to improve attainment specifically in maths, spatial reasoning and computational thinking. Initial findings have been positive with attainment improving on average by 15%, however the main improvement seen by all teachers and participants has been improved engagement and passion for maths. STEMspace resources are to be incorporated into the national maths progression framework as part of the curriculum improvement cycle.
• The Families Learning and Supporting Families seminar was well attended, with over 40 education practitioners benefiting from the opportunity to engage with a wide range of speakers, including Family Champions, Family Learning Assistants and the Supporting Families Team. The event effectively highlighted how services work collaboratively to support families and actively involve them in their children’s learning. Additional contributions from the Health Improvement Team, Early Years Scotland and EDC Employability strengthened the session by demonstrating the impact of their work on healthy lifestyles, support for neurodivergent children and families, and pathways for parents returning to work or learning. The marketplace element enabled practitioners to share examples of effective practice, supporting professional learning through peer exchange. The seminar was very positively evaluated, with practitioners valuing both the speakers and networking opportunities.
• The session the improved transition reporting process, replacing the previous Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) was rolled out. Data provides an overview of all primary one foundation skills in health and wellbeing, literacy, and numeracy for Primary 1 teachers as children transition to school, along with individual detailed reports. The centrally gathered data will be used to inform future professional learning and early intervention strategies. A support session was delivered with 18 settings in attendance.

ASN and Children’s Services

• The work of the Whole Family Wellbeing Team has been included within Scottish Government Year 3 analysis. This case study explores how East Dunbartonshire is utilising Whole Family Wellbeing Funding (WFWF) to build an inclusive holistic whole family support system which is shaped by the needs of children, young people and families. 
  The full report can be accessed online. Whole Family Wellbeing Funding Programme templates: year 3 analysis - 2024-2025 - gov.scot
• Almost all Child Protection Coordinators attended a virtual training session to ensure a shared understanding of national child protection and safeguarding priorities. The session was co-delivered with colleagues from social work with a focus on improving the use of language, reframing and reducing stigma as well as an update from the LAC team. The session was highly evaluated and ongoing support provided to help ensure consistency of approaches
• Almost all depute heads of centre (DHC) attended an in-person child protection and safeguarding session. Embedded within the session was the opportunity to share effective practice and reflect on situations enabling deep learning. All participants highly rated the session and helpful guidance shared to help DHC disseminate relevant information to staff teams
• The Sensory Service participated in an Assistive Listening Technology training day at Douglas Academy on 12/03/2026. The session was delivered by Brian Shannon from the Scottish Sensory Centre and East Dunbartonshire Teachers of Deaf Children and Young People, and Support for Learning Assistants (British Sign Language) were joined by colleagues from West Dunbartonshire
• West of Scotland Development Education Centre (WOSDEC) have been working closely with three local authorities to develop anti-racist resources to support anti-racism education for children with additional support needs. A teacher representative from Wester Cleddens Enhanced Learning Resource is part of the working group and instrumental in adapting learning materials ensuring accessibility for all. A recent training session was delivered and attended by key school staff
• EDC Weapons and Knife Crime policy was co-created and updated with some young people from several establishments along with other key stakeholders. Support for all relevant staff will ensure effective implementation of the policy.

Education Psychological Service (EPS)

• The 3-year implementation plan for New Vision on Relationships (NVR) is in its final form with the aim of having at least 2 staff members to be trained in each educational establishment by end of 2028
• Assessing Suicide in Kids (ASK) training dates and funding has been agreed for 8 multi-agency staff to be trained as trainers in September 2026
• The Depute Principal Educational Psychologist launched a new transitional support model to Early Years Heads of Centre and Primary Head Teachers. The model is in response to high levels of additional support needs in early level stages and will provide support for children transitioning to Primary 1 with significant additional support needs. The model includes pre and post evaluation.

School Planning and Improvement

• Lenzie Academy new build continues to progress with the consultation where the school senior management team is finalising internal furnishings
• Balmuildy Primary School continues to progress well with the delivery of the project
• Milngavie Primary Project met with the Parent Council on site and performed a site visit showcasing the works that have been performed to the building during the refurbishment
• Placing Requests closed on 15 March 2026 and analysis has been performed to prioritise in line with criteria.  Acceptance and Refusal letters will be issued late April 2026 in line with the statutory time line
• Workforce planning ongoing with all schools, ensuring that the relevant staffing is in place for new session in August 2026
• Equally Safe at Work Group met to discuss actions and next steps in relation to programme of work and closing of action points, working towards Bronze accreditation for the Council.

Skills for Life, Learning and Work

• Recruitment for Phase 13 of the council’s apprenticeship programme is now underway. Roles for this year include Early Years, Greenspace and Roads and Civils and are currently live on My Job Scotland, closing date 15 May 2026. Our Architectural Technician Apprentice based in Asset Management, was runner up in the UK Association of Public Sector Excellence 2026 Apprenticeship Awards. The final awards ceremony was held in Glasgow in March. The work she has undertaken on Torrance Primary, Gartconner Primary School modular classrooms, Bearsden Community Hub and energy efficiency projects was highlighted as part the application submission.

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Finance 

The month of March saw the Finance Team continuing 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 team has started preparations for year end, period 10 reports and working towards budget uploads.

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.

Revenues & Benefits

The Revenues and Benefits team have continued to progress Council Tax and Benefits services and administration of the Scottish Welfare Fund. The team completed annual billing in March, ensuring that bills were issued in time for collecting the first direct debit in April.

The Council Tax Collection Rate at 96.70% is behind the target of 96.96% for this point in the year. The final position is slightly behind target. The number of accounts which pay over twelve months rather than ten has been steadily increasing over the past few years. This may be because of the cost-of-living issues and residents spreading the costs. 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.

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 1,130 tickets in March and dealt with 288 telephone calls. ICT Support have implemented a satisfaction survey for incidents resolved, 96.1% of respondents were happy with the service provided.

ICT Infrastructure continues to support the delivery of major projects in conjunction with the Business & Digital Change Team and Major Assets team. The team continues to review telephony services across the estate in preparation for the PSTN switch off. 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. The ICT Security Team is reviewing Multi Factor Authentication options for Oracle Fusion and HCM.

Housing Rent and Tenant Participation 

For the financial year 2025/26 the rent arrears outcome was £552,544.94, which exceeded the set target of £570,000. This was a decrease of £39,885 against the financial year end outcome for 2024/25, a 6.73% reduction.

The team have continued to reduce rent arrears despite ongoing economic challenges being faced by many tenants, by making the best use of resources available while also delivering on efficiency savings. 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 through 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; providing early intervention 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; and providing additional support to tenants receiving Universal Credit housing element by having a presence in Kirkintilloch Job Centre every Tuesday morning. 

Rent arrears procedures are actioned towards tenants in rent arrears, with a firm but fair approach being applied and, where reasonable, serious rent arrear cases are escalated for court action and then eviction.The Tenant Participation Team continues to provide direct ongoing support to active Tenants and Residents Association

Business & Digital Change Team

During March 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 

Current focus is on delivering the budget option to share the Chief Internal Auditor post with two other Councils. A Service Level Agreement has been drafted and work is ongoing with regards to IT arrangements and Data Protection Impact Assessments.

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. A focus in the coming weeks will be on planning, year-end deliverables and implementing the shared post. 

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.

The team 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 exercise is now nearing completion, with only a small number of cases still being finalised. The savings identified from matching of Council Tax records, to identify potentially fraudulent Council Tax discount claims has resulted in higher than anticipated savings of £0.55M. This highlights both the scale of the issue and the effectiveness of the targeted approach. 

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 continue to experience difficulties in obtaining information from certain external 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 legal requirements.

Finance 

• Responding to audit queries on the 2023/24 draft accounts as the audit progresses towards finalisation. Charitable Trust final accounts for 2023/24 have now been signed by Trustees and Auditors
• 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:
  • 49,300 Council Tax bills and 15,800 Benefits notifications; and,
  • 360 crisis grants and community care grant applications were received
• The team received and dealt with 1,570 documents for Council Tax queries and reduction and 580 for benefits. In addition, the team received 2,100 ATLAS notifications from DWP
• The team dealt with 3,060 telephone enquiries.

ICT Services 

• ICT Services are working closely with the Business and Digital Change Team across several projects including HCM and Fusion
• The Infrastructure Team:
  • Completed the installation of a new wide area network connection at Allander. 
  • Started the planning for the installation of additional Wireless Access Points (WAPS) in the education estate
  • Windows 11 roll out continued, 342 laptops have been replaced representing 98% of the programme. The in-place upgrades have now been successful on 92% of devices
  • Started rolling out the new Xerox printers in collaboration with Information Management.
• ICT Security have:
  • Completed the annual PSN accreditation process
  • Maintained the Council’s perimeter defences
  • Reviewed 29 alerts, remediation action required for 7 of the notifications.

Shared Services 

• The Residential Team added 82 service agreements to CareFirst for clients moving into care homes or for supported living services within their own homes. 
• The Homecare Team added 337 service agreements to CareFirst for clients receiving a homecare service or a direct payment
• Direct Payment Audit Team – 28 (21 standard, 7 final) audits completed for clients receiving self-direct support. 
• The EMA Team dealt with 17 Education Maintenance Applications in February, 9 were processed through SEEMiS, 8 require further information.

Housing Rent and Tenant Participation

• Active Tenant Rent Arrears were £552,544.94 which is a decrease of 6.73% on the year end outcome for 2024/25
• 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 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
• Online issue of the Taking Part newsletter published with links emailed to all EDC tenants where they have provided their contact email address. Newsletter available on EDC website and advertised on EDC social media platforms.

Business & Digital Change 

• During this period, the Business Systems team upgraded 3 system environments, resolved 17 incidents, assisted with 5 projects and continued contributing to the Windows 11 rollout
• The fifth HCM data migration iteration is 46% complete. Work is focused on improving data quality and readiness ahead of final migration and live cutover. Preparation for User Acceptance Testing (Iteration 2) is underway. MFA deployment remains on track for Fusion Phase 1 users, with completion planned for June–July 2026
• Four sheltered housing complexes have been upgraded to digital, with the remaining two scheduled for April
• Telecare analogue to digital transition continues, with deployment now at 91% across the wider authority
• Testing for the Mugdock Country Park application has been completed, and development will now continue based on user feedback
• The replacement Mavis Valley application is now fully ready for launch
• Implementation of a Microsoft Power Platform based Disclosure Scotland solution.

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

Corporate Fraud 

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

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The HSCP and its staff continue to work hard to ensure quality delivery of the Council’s operational delivery of statutory social work services, which are integrated with NHS services under the strategic governance of the Health and Social Care Partnership (HSCP) Board. Service quality and outcomes associated with these specific social work services are the focus of this report with 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 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 March 2026, the HSCP performed above target on all identified performance indicators. 

Key Achievements:

• The IJB approved a balanced budget for 2026/27 and the HSCP Annual Delivery Plan 2026/27, strengthening financial stewardship and alignment between Strategic Plan priorities, delivery actions and performance reporting
• Three major service reviews (Adult Social Work; Business Support; Community Mental Health & Older People’s Mental Health) were concluded and approved, supporting service sustainability while protecting statutory delivery
• The IJB approved the HSCP Equalities Mainstreaming Report 2023-25, providing assurance on how equality duties are embedded across planning, delivery and decision making.

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
• Implement outcome of the HSCP leadership review

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 

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Land Planning & Development have progressed a number of significant work streams during March 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 5 November 2025. Officers have been working with relevant internal services to address the matters set out in the Reporter’s recommendations. It is expected that a revised Evidence Report will be presented to Council on 2 April 2026 for approval. Thereafter, and upon completion of final administrative and other tasks, the revised Evidence Report will be submitted to the Planning and Environmental Appeals Division of the Scottish Government (DPEA) to undergo a further Gate Check assessment
• Following approval of a Tree Preservation Order at Whitegates Park in Lenzie at Policy and Resources Committee on 3 February 2026, the order came into affect on 5 March 2026. A period for making representations to the order runs until 10 April 2026 after which it is expected that the order will be taken back to committee for confirmation (subject to representations received)
• Work with consultants on the preparation of an Urban Greening Factor to support the development of LDP3 is continuing
• 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 (CAP), updates are being made to reflect input from the consultation and progress with the delivery actions. Pre-agenda for the Climate Change Member Officer Group (MOG) has been scheduled in April 2026 and MOG has been scheduled for May to allow the CAP to progress to June Council
•  A feasibility study for a heat network in central Kirkintilloch is now complete. Scottish Government funding of £50,000 was secured for the study based upon an opportunity identified in the Council’s Local Heat & Energy Efficiency Strategy (LHEES) Delivery Plan. 
• A report was taken to Community Planning Partnership Board to provide an update on East Dunbartonshire Climate Action Hub’s work for 2026/27 and the Council’s collaboration with the Climate Action Hub (CPPB/002/26/RS)
• A presentation was delivered on East Dunbartonshire Council’s approach to the just transition to all staff at the Scottish Climate Intelligence Service (SCIS) to help to guide where SCIS could add value through their capacity-building work and the ClimateView platform.
• 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 input will be sought from colleagues in advance of the updated reports being taken to Transport Working Group, which has been scheduled in June 2026
• Updates were made to the Council’s School Travel Plans based on engagement with colleagues across the Council. An update will be taken to Transport Working Group on the travel plans in June 2026
• Additional work was undertaken to refresh the Council’s Parking Management Plan (PMP) to reflect progress on a range of relevant Council, regional, and national transport initiatives and to prepare an updated version. An update will be taken to Transport Working Group on the PMP in June 2026
• Further details were provided to partners across the Glasgow City Region to secure external funding towards the Nature-Based Investment Study. 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
• 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 is under way with officers are working 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
• Idox system is fully operational. Users can access Uniform live/Enterprise, Unimap web, DMS, Stamper and Planning Application. Support has been provided on a range of Idox requests including Data extracts from Uniform database, Stamper fault reports/solutions, Uniform Enterprise Task manage workload and Microsoft access reports
• The daily One Scotland Gazetteer Improvement service file is currently processing successfully with no data quality adjustments necessary
• Planning for a forthcoming upgrade of Uniform, Unimap web and the Public access platform later this year 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. Five in-person briefings to tenants have been delivered to answer queries and help planning on site activities. Four 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.
• The team are currently processing the final green business and digital adoption support, enabled through Year 4 Shared Prosperity Fund allocation. The grants have proved very popular and now fully subscribed. With SPF ending 2025/26, work is now underway to examine business support programmes that can be funded through the Local Growth Fund and the ‘transition’ revenue allocation for 2026/27, confirmed at the  Glasgow City Region Cabinet in March
• 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
• 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. 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 approved at Glasgow City Region (GCR) Chief Executives Group 16 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). Contracts are finalised and in place for construction following the FBC approval
• Work continues on Bishopbriggs Town Centre Civic Space project. Work continues with relevant landowners to secure the area on a long-term lease, and this is nearing completion. Contracts are finalised for construction following the FBC approval. 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, is nearing completion and hand over the Trust who will continue to operate from the facility
• The programme management of the Shared Prosperity Fund is ongoing to support services and projects across the Council as the programme closes, with all expenditure required by September 2026. Work is underway with the Glasgow City Region to understand how the new Local Growth 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. The contractor has been procured and the designs will be finalised before work starts on site later in the year
• 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 with 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 Capital Paths programme is on site across different locations
• 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 increase regional and local Electric Vehicle charging network provision. Tenders have been received from Charge Point Operators, and these are being assessed. 

• During the reporting period the planning side of the team has determined 35 applications and validated 60 applications
• The Building Standards team have received 95 building warrants and approved 82 applications
• The Planning Enforcement team have opened six new cases and closed 20 cases
• The Development Applications planning team presented 6 items to Planning Board on 31 March with each application consented in line with the case officer’s recommendation. Preparations are underway for the next forthcoming Planning Board
• The Development Applications planning team acted as planning advisor for three cases presented to Local Review Body on 11 March 2026
• 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. 

Key Achievements / Areas of Focus 

• Procurement of contractor for the Lennoxtown Greenspace Project completed
• Work to progress the Active Travel Strategy is underway
• Finalisation of the revised LDP Evidence Report

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Overview of Progress

Throughout March, the Democratic Services Team continued to support the internal governance of the Council, in addition to certain regulatory functions. Ten governance meetings took place during March. 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 and has commenced arrangements for the annual placing request appeals. The deadline for placing requests was 15 March 2026, and appeals are scheduled for June 2026.

The Team continues to engage with the Electoral Registration Officer, Electoral Commission, Electoral Management Board, Association of Electoral Administrators, Regional Returning Officer and contractors in preparation for the Scottish Parliament elections scheduled for May 2026. This is the most complex and demanding electoral event that the Team administers. Detailed planning commenced in 2025 and includes officers from various services. In addition, the Team has liaised with colleagues in West Dunbartonshire Council as the Scottish Parliamentary constituency is cross-boundary. Regular update Technical Notes will continue to be issued to Members as planning progresses. Work also continued, locally and nationally, in preparation for the Local Government Elections in 2027.

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 March and supported colleagues in neighbouring authorities. In addition, the service continued to engage with partners across Greater Glasgow as part of ongoing resilience planning for potential incidents which may impact on demand for services, 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 85 birth and 190 death registrations in March. 26 marriages and 3 civil partnerships were also registered in this period
• Citizenship Ceremonies were held to welcome 14 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 156 FOI/EIRs, 8 internal review requests and 18 SARs (Subject Access Requests). The team also delivered training to IMLOs on requests under the Environmental Information (Scotland) Regulations 2004. 

Overview of Progress

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 March 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 March, the Team processed 12 contract review forms and seven contract award letters, One open market purchase, eight taxi licence applications and one housing repair grant. 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 finalising and executing the construction contract and completing the two main tranches of land acquisition for the City Deal Westerhill Development Road project and awarding the construction contract and client-side professional services contract for the City Deal Bishopbriggs Town Centre Civic Space project
• Property and planning work included concluding purchase of 20 Burns Court, Kirkintilloch; lease extensions for units at 19 Donaldson Crescent Kirkintilloch and Springfield Works Bishopbriggs; granting of leases for units at Kilsyth Road Workspace; termination of lease at 20 Twechar Green; licence to occupy for a monthly market in Bishopbriggs; and promotion of a Tree Preservation Order for Whitegates Park, Lenzie
• Contracts and procurement work in this period included a review of the upgrade to the Income Management System; variations of Oracle Fusion Implementation Partner; data sharing agreements for Community Payback Orders, with Skills Development Scotland and with Police Scotland; contracts awarded for Lennoxtown Community Greenspace, ARC GIS Enterprise licences and maintenance, the demolition of 30-50 Nithsdale Crescent, Bearsden, renewal of artificial surfaces at Huntershill Sports Hub, Microsoft Licensing, iTrent HR Payroll System
• 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 assisting social work in successfully obtaining an emergency order to project a vulnerable child
• The team also supported the development, as part of the Artificial Intelligence Working Group, of the Council's Artificial Intelligence Policy which was adopted by Council as policy in March 2026
• The team has also coordinated the response to a notice from the Scottish Covid Inquiry which asked for a signification amount of information.

Overview of Progress

During March, 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, Key System renewals and upgrades, 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 March 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 Redwood upgrade , Fusion HCM Phase 2, IHMS, City Deal projects to support Westerhill Development Road, Capital projects such as school estate Professional Fees, Itrent extension options, Oracle Support updates, 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
• Completed and published 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
• Preparation of Annual Procurement Strategy 2026-2027
• 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 for reporting to Council in September 2026
• 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 September 2026
• Implemented Fusion electronic feeder payment files for Fortnightly payment processing
• Review of resourcing considerations to support Project workload and business as usual priorities
• Supporting Scottish Parliamentary election planning.

Overview of Progress

During March, the Strategic Commissioning team concentrated its efforts on supporting the HSCP to progress and/or finalise its Transformation and Budget programme in relation to commissioned services. In addition, the team continued to direct and support the commissioned market daily and intervened if/where necessary to support sustainability and/or other related pressures.

Key Achievements / Areas of Focus

• Aligned to the HSCP’s 26/27 budget saving programme, finalised several budget saving proposals to help support delivery of a balanced budget
• Working within a multi-disciplinary approach, finalised planning arrangements to support an individual from an out of area placement back to the local community. The collaborative efforts were formally acknowledged and praised by the individual’s parent/guardian
• Contributed to and supported the progression of several HSCP strategic and service reviews and continued to provide added value by providing project management and budget management advice and expertise
• Supported finance colleagues with year-end financial arrangements
• Progressed transitional planning arrangements for 2026/2027
• 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
• Continued discussions with external HSCPs to explore the potential to co-produce & co-design a service model capable of providing cross boundary generic support to meet identified needs & outcomes & deliver value for money
• To support conclusion of the Mental Health and Alcohol & Drugs Strategic Review, negotiated and finalised future commissioning and contracting arrangements with providers pending implementation in 2026/27
• Explored alternative and more bespoke commissioning models to meet current and future demand including a model specifically geared towards alleviating discharge pressures
• Continued to support and guide the HSCP with operational pressures related to commissioned services.

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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 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.

The Winter Maintenance period is almost completed with weather forecast monitored and resources deployed as required into early April. 

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 March 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 1643 tonnes of waste through this contract in March, 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, including 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 incidents statistics and other health and safety activities.

Ongoing and 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 of risk assessments and safe systems of work.  During this period, the team have been working closely with Education technical departments and Estates & Facilities, Early years Centres, the corporate risk team, Mugdock country park, Strategic Commissioning team - Legal & Regulatory Services, HSCP Justice Services, School Improvement Team for minor projects, with Housing, reviewing safe systems of work and risk assessments, HSCP, on fire safety plans and safe systems of work and undertook COSHH assessments and document review for Fleet and other health and safety enquiries. 

The H&S Team reported at the 2nd Tier H&S Committee meetings for Corporate, Education and attended HSCP H&S Sub-Group with NHS colleagues.  The team were present at 3rd Tier (service level) meetings for Property Maintenance, Streetscene, Fleet and Waste. The team also participated in the Equally Safe at Work working group.

Various teams received assistance through workplace assessments, manual handling and individual risk assessments in collaboration with HR colleagues, as well as continuing to review First Aids needs assessments with HR People Development.  Display Screen Equipment assessments are continually reviewed alongside line managers.

The focus continues for Construction Design and Management compliance with site visits, inspections, reviewing construction phase plans, risk assessments and method statements for refurbishment, general estate repairs, new builds, paths, roads and greenspace projects for various teams.  This includes replacement roof work, replacement bathrooms/kitchens, play area at Mugdock Park among other construction projects.

Fire Risk Assessments are conducted in accordance with the predetermined schedule.  Officers undertake routine inspections and continue to carry out site visits to address any fire safety concerns, assess fire documentation where required and support with personal emergency evacuation plans, offering expert advice. Fire Safety training has also been delivered by the team.

The team continue to promote reporting of health and safety incidents throughout the council and programme health and safety inspections of council workplaces.

Roads Network Operations Teams (including Street Lighting)

Carriageway & Footway Defects (March 2026)

Between 1 to 31 March 2026, 397 defects were identified across East Dunbartonshire. Of these, 265 repairs were completed within SLA (66.75%), 44 were late (11.08%), and 88 (22.17%) remain outstanding but are still within SLA. Service performance in March was adversely impacted by elevated levels of staff sickness absent and annual leave compared with the preceding three months. 

Road Works Delivery (March 2026)

A wide programme of carriageway and footway works was delivered, predominantly minor excavation repairs addressing surface defects and potholes across Lenzie, Kirkintilloch, Bearsden, Bishopbriggs, and surrounding areas. Other works included drainage upgrades, gully repairs, lining works, and installation of new traffic signals. Many projects were completed on schedule as advised on technical notes. 
Technical Notes 2026, Issue 61 - Roads & Neighbourhood Services 2025/26 Carriageway and Footway Resurfacing Programme (Quarter 4 – Year-end Update) - East Dunbartonshire Council

Gully Cleaning Performance (Apr 2025 – March 2026)

Gully Cleaning Performance (Apr 2025 – March 2026)
A total of 22,011 gullies are maintained across the adopted network. During the reporting period, 19,347 gullies were cleaned (87%). This includes 5,132 of 6,221 gullies on primary routes (83%) and 13,755 of 14,448 on secondary routes (94%). This reflects strong delivery in drainage maintenance and contributes to reducing flood risk.

Safety Inspections (March 2026)

A total of 15 scheduled carriageway and three scheduled footway safety inspections were completed, all within required inspection intervals. 

Winter Maintenance (March 2026)

A total of 96 gritting actions were carried out, using 383.46 tonnes of salt to maintain network safety during winter conditions.

Roads Technical & Engineering Teams 

Structures

• Procurement process underway for replacement of FB52 Clober Road Footbridge. Expected to go out to tender April
• SCC12 West Board Twechar Main St parapet heightening works complete
• FB04 Westerton Footbridge improvement works complete
• SCC17 Lochcrog Rail Bridge graffiti overpainted
• FB52 Clober Rd deck improvement works complete
• FB48 Lennox Park bollard installation complete.
  

Flooding 

• River Glazert Restoration Project, Lennoxtown - Progressing to tender development. Landowner agreement being discussed via EDC Legal for Licence of occupancy with NHS & Balglass Farm – ongoing.

Drainage 

• Douglas Drive, and Buchanan Drive, Bearsden – complete.

Traffic

• Review of pavement parking underway
• Review of 20mph underway

Streetscene, Greenspace & Mugdock Country Park Teams 

Streetscene Operations

• Preparations underway for the commencement of the Summer cyclical works and completion of winter works. Winter cyclical works ending; pruning of shrub beds and tree works. Winter gritting
• Street cleansing and mechanical sweeping; removal of fly posting and uplifting of fly tipping, mechanical street sweeping and installing replacement or additional bins
• Countryside verge litter pick programme carried out 
• All year work continuing e.g. play inspections, checking and clearance of culverts, graffiti removal, removal of damaged bins and dead animals
• Ongoing cemetery operations, digging and carrying out interments, installing headstone foundations, benches etc
• Education and Leisure Trust pitch maintenance, athletic and football initial lining for schools
• Responding to Customer Service Requests and complaints.

Streetscene Technical Support

• Play Area upgrade underway at Bishopbriggs Park and completed at Stanley Drive (Bishopbriggs). Works imminent at Eastside (Kirkintilloch) and Twechar (Pump Track)
• Merkland Play Area – contractor appointed to remove all equipment as per Technical Note – now complete – consultation to begin re opportunities in area
• 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
• Headstones/Memorials Inspection – inspections complete at Campsie Cemetery and New Kilpatrick Churchyard   – make safe progressing at Campsie and thereafter to 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 – analysis ongoing of trees identified, EDC/private
• Tree Planting – programme progressing across the district – works predominantly in Bishopbriggs due to low canopy coverage in this area
• Management Plans – Lenzie Moss, Whitefield Pond, Cairnhill Woods and Heather Avenue – 1st year actions progressing
• Clyde Valley Green Network – liaison re EDC Wetland Strategy
• The team continues to respond to high volume of open space, tree and bereavement enquires, along with planning application consultations and complaints
• Open Space audit work for input into the GMS system ongoing for Milngavie & Bearsden
  
• Assisted a number of Community Groups with Litter Picking resources across EDC

 Mugdock Country Park – March footfall – 56,531 

• Visitor Numbers: 56531.  This is considerably down from March 2025 (77,904) due to the closure of Mugdock and Craigalian Roads, and the closure of the Playpark whilst the new play area is being completed
• 56 people attended an event at Mugdock / 29 children attended an educational activity
• Nine Volunteer days were held in March undertakng a range of land management tasks including boardwalk at Moothill and brash clearing in Gallowhill as part of the Gallowhill Arboretum Project. 

Waste Services

• The Clyde Valley Residual Waste contract accepted 1643 tonnes of general waste throughout March from our households and Street Cleansing Tems for recycling pre-sort, and then ongoing production of energy from waste. This was a reduction of 9% compared to March 2025
• The Garden Waste Permit season started in March.  In March, 6805 permits were purchased, making a total of 23859 permits have been purchased since applications opened until the end of March 2026
• Mavis Valley Household Waste Recycling Centre received 12,721 bookings throughout March
• The team have continued work with colleagues in Business Change to bring the Mavis Valley booking system in-house.  New tablets have been configured, and planning is taking place for launch date
• The team have implemented a new commercial route review.  There has been a focus around optimising the routes, ensuring all contracted agreements are adhered to and creating new procedures.  Waste Services Officers have been working closely with our customers and assisting the frontline crews with contractual agreements
• The Waste Technical and Compliance Team dealt with 94 Corporate Complaints in March
• The Waste Technical and Compliance Team dealt with 1238 general enquiries in March
• The changes to the frontline residual collection frequency have encouraged residents to utilise the recycling available at the kerbside. There was a noted increase of 11.5% in recycling collected from the Blue, Paper and Cardboard Bins, since March 2025. 

Fleet Services

• Between 1 to 31 March 2026, the team inspected and repaired 227 vehicles and items of plant, all in accordance with our servicing schedules and defect procedures
• We are currently awaiting delivery of several new vehicles and plant assets to replace older equipment as part of our scheduled fleet replacement programme
• We continue to support Council services by delivering ASN transport and distributing essential supplies to vulnerable residents, including meals for early years facilities and lunch clubs
• Work is progressing on managing the capital programme for fleet asset replacements throughout the financial year
• We are maintaining our CPC training schedule to ensure all relevant drivers meet their requirements before the deadline. Furthermore, we continue to manage our fleet operations in full compliance with operator licensing legislation, maintaining a 'Green' DVSA Operator Compliance Risk Score for both Traffic and Compliance
• Our in-house maintenance team continues to support front-line operations, covering everything from standard vehicle repairs to the upkeep of horticultural and construction plant equipment
• We are currently in the process of replacing our Fleet Management and Telematics systems, as well as undertaking a full update of our Fleet Policy
• We have implemented a data-led approach to fleet management, evidenced by our recent utilisation report. By using telematics data to identify under-utilised assets, we can refine our vehicle replacement programme, ensuring resources are focused on high-demand service areas while driving down the overall fleet size
• We are actively monitoring external hires.