How Good Is Our Service - November 2025

Voids performance in November is at 91%, equal to performance in October, and is above our target of 85%.  We continue to assess and enhance operational processes with a view to improving and maintaining performance in this area moving forward. 

Property Maintenance have achieved our target of 100% for Gas Servicing in November with 383 properties serviced in the month.  We continue to achieve our target each month, and we are confident this will continue throughout 2025/26. 

Non-Emergency repairs performance in November exceeds our target of 12 days with an average turnaround of 7 days for the month, which is up from 11.4 days in October.  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. 

A revised school lunch menu was implemented at the start of the new term in August. The Service has received positive feedback from pupils and schools in relation to the school lunch menu. Following discussions with Education, a new coloured band process was implemented at Craigdhu PS ensuring pupils are provided with the meal choice chosen by parents. 

The uptake in school meals within the Secondary schools was slightly lower than last month at 51.38%, however still above the monthly target. The Primary School uptake in school meals for November was 72.64% which is 5% higher than October’s uptake.  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 56% of the school menus now using locally sourced produce.

Eight of the first fifteen new mechanised crossing points have now been installed with school crossing patrollers previously located at 4 of the 8 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 20% reduction in cleaning across the Council’s Corporate estate, a new cleaning model has now been agreed and is currently being implemented. Following the implementation of the new cleaning model, the service are now progressing the recruitment of 900+ weekly cleaning hours across the East, West and Central locations. As of end of November, over 300 hours had been offered to existing staff and external candidates with more interviews scheduled for December.

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.  

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 Colquhoun Park PS (senior area) and Balmuildy PS (infant area) have been addressed following substantial water ingress as a result of recent bad weather.  Works are still progressing to replace the biomass flue to ensure the biomass remains operational over the winter period at Castlehill PS.  

Estates Management continue to market vacant premises within the non-operational estate. At present the non-operational estate is over 94% occupied, with vacant suites in Southbank Marina being actively marketed by agents, DM Hall. The marketing of Lenzie Public Hall has commenced with the deadline for offers extended following requests from two local Community Groups who have shown an interest in the building
 
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.  

Good progress continues to be made through the detailed design and construction tender process for the Westerhill Development Road project. The Stage 2 report for the project, seeking approval for the final total development cost, will be considered by Council in December 2025 ahead of a target construction phase start in Easter 2026.

Works continue to progress at Bearsden Community Hub to remove and replace RAAC from the roof on the extension at the rear of the building (completion expected in January 2026) and refurbishments of Milngavie Primary School (completion July 2026); Campsie Memorial Hall (completion February 2026); and through the construction of a replacement Balmuildy Primary School. Works are also progressing at Torrance Community Centre, which now has a revised completion date of April 2026 due to a series of unforeseen issues arising with the condition of the existing building.

The development of design proposals for the new Lenzie Academy project at Whitegates Park remain underway, with the proposal of planning application notice submitted in May. The second round of pre-application consultation events were successfully completed before the end of October 2025 and the Stage 1 report for the project is due for submission to Council in December 2025. The submission of the project planning application is expected to follow in early 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. A Stage 1 report for the Milngavie Early Years project, including an update on design proposals, costs and development programme will be submitted for consideration by Council in December 2025. The project planning application is due for submission in December 2025 also.

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

The delivery of several areas of on-going capital investment across the Council’s existing Affordable Housing stock continue, including several significant measures to improve Housing Quality and Energy Efficiency. Preparations are underway for the next round of the Council’s energy efficiency improvements to its housing stock with works expected to start in mid-2026 and the first phase of the 25/26 Mixed Tenure roofing programme is planned to start imminently.  The demolition of the former Campsie View and Merkland Primary Schools was completed in November 2025 and continues at the former Auchinairn Primary School.

Planning applications for the development of affordable housing by the Council at the site of the former Merkland School, Kirkintilloch and the site of the former Campsie View School, Lenzie were approved by Planning Board in October 2025. Planning submissions have been submitted for sites at the former Main Street in Torrance and the site of the former Auchinairn Primary School. At Twechar Canalside, the construction of 15no. affordable Passivhaus houses is underway and continues to make good progress.  

• Achieved 100% compliance for Gas Servicing with focus on this continuing going forward
• Kitchen, Bathroom, Central Heating and Roofing upgrade programmes ongoing with positive feedback being received from tenants across all contracts
• Positive level of performance in non-emergency repairs turnaround times with our focus being on maintaining and improving further in this area moving forward
• Continue to focus on enhancing voids operational processes with the objective being to increase and maintain performance in this are going forward
• Improved functionality of Total Mobile and the integration with Servitor enables a more streamlined and efficient service. Further upgrades are due to take place in the coming weeks
• Improve communications with customers and stakeholders to ensure the highest level of service delivery
• Continue to utilise robust reporting mechanisms for enhanced performance and service delivery
• Progress decoration works across the school estate
• 100% of Operational Assets requiring a Gas Safety check within the year’s anniversary of the previous check are completed
• Schedule in the upcoming Gas Safety Checks with contractors which are required during December and January
• 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 November 2025, the service continued to engage in the local

Co-Production arrangement with Police Scotland, with regular community harm and risk meetings being held to provide the focus for joint work and activity to protect local communities across the East Dunbartonshire area. The service also continued to develop intelligence led approaches for all areas of work to target local public health, community safety and consumer protection activity towards the areas of greatest need, risk and priority.

Throughout the reporting period, Environmental Health played a key role in delivering essential public health services, fulfilling a wide range of statutory responsibilities aimed to protect the community from environmental risks, and to support the development of responsible business. The work encompassed both proactive work such as routine inspections for food safety and reactive responses to complaints and service requests. Officers also responded to internal consultations such as licence applications and planning applications. 

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, bonfire / firework safety 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 November, Trading Standards monitored storage, sales and terminal hours of premises storing and selling fireworks. Licensing Advisors were involved with service provision in relation to civic licensed events and liquor licensing across the council area including festive events. They also prepared reports for the liquor licensing board including a request to review an existing licence.

Trading Standards Officers continue to investigate the supply of trade mark infringing goods within the East Dunbartonshire Council area liaising with industry and partner organisations. Trading Standards Officers in the team also continued to deliver proactive inspection work, along with reactive service request work and project activity directed at a range of business premises across the area (including activity around age restricted products and medical weighing devices). 

The Wellness Kitchens continue to flourish. These sessions are proving highly effective in strengthening social connections, building local skills and confidence and supporting individual resilience. A joint initiative with Project 101, and the Young Tenants groups has led to increased youth engagement, culminating in a self-organised group that is now meeting regularly. Participants report clear benefits for their mental health and well-being.

The Resettlement Team remains deeply committed to providing compassionate, tailored support to families arriving through humanitarian programmes. In addition, collaborative work is underway with local partners to deliver targeted engagement sessions for asylum seekers currently residing in East Dunbartonshire. These sessions aim to help individuals connect with the community and access appropriate services and opportunities, including volunteering.

The Equalities Outcome consultation has now been fully coded, analysed and reported. The final outcomes were presented to Council, where they received approval, this provides a strong evidence base to guide our ongoing equalities work and future decision-making.

We continue to work with people development to develop a well-received in-house Equality impact Assessment Training building confidence, skills and understanding, supporting the production of high quality EQIAs across services.

Round 2 of the Community Grant Scheme is now live, and receiving a steady stream of applications. The team is currently undertaking due diligence checks and scoring assessments in preparation for discussions with the Grant Advisory Committee. This phase is particularly busy, but essential to ensuring public funds are awarded robustly, transparently and in line with community priorities.

The Community Development Workers continue to take proactive approaches. Recent delivery of the Health Issues In the Community Course in Lennoxtown was extremely well received, with participants expressing a strong interest in progressing to stage 2, which includes accreditation. This momentum is now shaping a programme of community-led initiative focused on tackling social isolation within Lennoxtown.

Community vaccination continues to be delivered in our communities, supporting the wellbeing of our residents. This is delivered jointly with Greater Glasgow and Clyde NHS Board.

In partnership with the CLD Workforce Development Group, the team is coordinating the development of a practitioner-led gathering. The purpose of the event is to build capacity, share effective practice, and reinforce delivery of the priority actions outlines in the existing CLD plan 2021-25.

Alongside current delivery activity, the team is actively coordinating the development of the new CLD Plan for 2025-27. This includes embedding the Local Child Poverty Action Reporting requirements into the planning process, ensuring strong alignment between community learning and development priorities and the wider strategic commitment to reducing poverty across East Dunbartonshire.

The team is working collaboratively with colleagues in Asset Management and Legal Services to progress current Community Asset Transfer (CAT) requests, and enquiries. Alongside this, promoting greater awareness of the CAT Policy and processes and coordinating a programme of engagement to support the forthcoming review of the CAT policy.

Housing manage 3,896 social rented properties; 3,812 of which are mainstream accommodation and 84 are used for Homeless Temporary Accommodation. The Service also manages 49 Lead Tenancies which are rented from either private landlords (28) or Housing Associations (21), to assist with accommodating homeless households.

At present, the Housing list for East Dunbartonshire has 3,430 applications - made up of the following:

General Waiting list - 2,563 applicants waiting (2 of which are on offer). (Applicants who have somewhere to stay i.e., they are owner occupiers, a tenant of a private let, stay care of family etc. This queue allows the applicant to choose which area, house type etc they would like to move to).

Transfer waiting list - 615 applicants (12 of which are on offer. (Council or Housing Association tenants who are looking to move to another Council or Housing Association property, either for a different size, or, for a different area. This queue allows the tenant to choose which area, house type etc. they would like to move to).

Priority waiting list - 250 applicants (17 of which are on offer) 
(Homeless). (Applicants who have no accommodation or will have nowhere to stay within the next 2 months. This queue does not allow the applicant to choose area or house type).

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

Within the last month, 7 properties were allocated, all of which were general needs. 6 were mainstream and 1 was a buy back (property bought from the open market).

They were let to the following queues:

• 4 to the priority homeless queue
• 1 to the transfer queue
• 2 to the general waiting list queue.

Environmental Health, Trading Standards and Community Safety Teams

• Delivery of effective services on a flexible basis to meet all statutory requirements and duties in relation to public health, community safety, consumer protection and licensing enforcement matters
• Delivery of local Co-Production activity between Community Protection and Police Scotland, with particular focus on effective tasking processes and the delivery of joint action plans and work to protect the communities of East Dunbartonshire
• Delivery of Business Improvement Plan activity relating to Community Protection - actions being implemented in accordance with set targets to deliver effective services in line with relevant corporate outcomes and with positive performance being reported
• Delivery of regulatory services that assist with economic recovery and that are designed to support local businesses and communities
• Officers participated in a European Commission audit to approved premises for food safety - the audit purpose being to verify that as non-EU country exporting to the EU, we are correctly implementing EU standards and legislation
• An Intelligence Development Officer from Scottish Food Crime & Incidents Unit at Food Standards Scotland met with local officers to help build closer partnership working for current and future dealings
• Several Animal Welfare licences were assessed, with end of year renewals being processed and associated visits to premises being carried out
• A remedial action notice was served on a food business in Kirkintilloch requiring them to cease use of a walk-in chill which was not working and to dispose of all food stored within
• Quarterly swimming pool samples were taken from local pools in order to maintain on-going compliance
• Referral of an unregistered gas engineer to GasSafe further to the provision of safety certificates to local businesses in the Kirkintilloch area
• On-going delivery of annual accompanied visits by the Team Leader and Development Lead Officer with officers responsible for conducting food law inspections
• Delivery of parking enforcement activity to support the traffic free schools’ pilot and all other school areas
• Delivery of decriminalised parking enforcement activity in relation to recently introduced parking restrictions across the authority relating to pavement, double and dropped kerb parking
• On-going Community Warden activity under the MCR Pathways national programme, with 4 officers now actively mentoring local school children
• Community Warden engagement to develop links on community safety matters at several local forums, with particular emphasis on the delivery presentations at several local primary schools during November
• Delivery of bonfire and firework safety work in tandem with several partners to minimise antisocial behaviour and to maximise community safety across the local area during the bonfire season
• Delivery of targeted dog fouling patrols and initiatives across a range of parks, open spaces and other known issue areas within East Dunbartonshire
• Officers across the Community Protection teams visited several seasonal market operators to conduct compliance checks with traders, with remedial action being required in several cases
• Inspections, reactive service request visits and targeted project work by the Trading Standards Team throughout the reporting period to maintain local compliance with consumer protection legislation
• 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
• Provision of tailored advice to businesses requiring Public Entertainment Licences and/or amendments to liquor licences
• Delivery of inspection activity related to the safe storage and supply of fireworks by licensed premises across the local authority area during the bonfire season
• Examination and follow up investigation after a significant seizure of multiple fashion items believed to be infringing registered trademarks, investigation ongoing
• Submission of logs to the National Intelligence Database for Trading Standards with contribution to the wider national and cross authority picture.

Community Planning and Partnerships Team

• Successful ongoing delivery of the community vaccination programme with NHS colleagues
• The Resettlement Team has agreed a new team plan that aligns strongly with Council’s strategic priorities, and they continue to work in close partnership with local and national organisations to deliver personalised humanitarian integration programmes for individuals and families
• In addition, the team are collaborating with internal services to design a dedicated welcome connecting community event programmes targeting asylum seeking living in the area, helping individuals and families to understand local supports and strengthens early connections
• Community centre users in Auchinairn are being supported to identify shared priorities and agree collaborative ways forward, including maximising use of available space and progressing the development of the community garden
• The team have continued to support the CLD strategic Partnership in shaping the draft CLD Plan 2025-27
• A variety of wellness kitchen session were delivered throughout the period, engaging young people, young tenants and pupils. These sessions provided opportunities to build skills, increase confidence and strengthen social connections across different groups
• The team continues to maintain strong links with the wider community and third sector organisations participating in AGMS, training sessions and local events to strengthen relationships and stay connected to emerging needs
• In partnership with the VAWG partnership, the tea co-led design and delivery of a serios of successful 16 Days of Activism event specifically targeted at supporting the Deaf community.

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

• The Estates Team received 32 new Reports of anti-social behaviour during the month of November
• There were 15 nominations from the Housing waiting list sent to a Registered Social Landlords operating in East Dunbartonshire to be considered for allocation to their housing stock Discussions are ongoing with Clyde Valley Housing Association to agree a new Nominations Agreement
• Meetings regularly attended November 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, the 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 where appropriate to allow for a more customer, person centred approach
• The new on-line CRM system training has been issued for Housing staff using the system and now up and running
• The team is part of new Steering Group to re-establish and implement new procedures for processing and issuing Tenant Recharges
• Attendance at new 2-weekly Community Harm and Risk Meeting (CHARM) with Police Scotland, Community Safety, Trading Standards and Licensing officers continues. Attendance at East Dunbartonshire Safe and Together steering group is ongoing
• Hold monthly budget meetings with HRA accountant for monitoring spend. 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 actioned
• Ensuring turn around times on void properties falls and offers are out with applicants on these properties
• New process for Key control of void properties implemented
• Young tenants’ participation working group and Project 101 have been out and about in the community doing litter collections. They are currently designing a new tenant handbook/quick guide which will be piloted next year
• The Homeless Team have been working in partnership with Oxgang Primary P6/7 (approx. 80 children) to raise awareness of housing options and homelessness in East Dunbartonshire Council and Scotland
• 24 Households made a homeless application during November (23 last month). Of the 27 appointments arranged this month 5 (18%) of applicants failed to attend appointments without giving good reason. This will be monitored to identify any key trends, etc
• 6 households were supported by the Homelessness Out of Hours Service (decrease since last month – 9)
• 7 homeless applicants were made an offer of settled accommodation. None of which had been waiting longer than 3 years
• 11 households were moved to temporary accommodation
• 1 household was referred to the Rent Deposit Guarantee Scheme and 1 household assisted with RSL/HA rent in advance to move to settled accommodation
• 1 household was placed within unsuitable accommodation during November. No breaches of the UAO however the Council is at immediate risk due to demand
• The Council’s Landlord Registration Officer received 141 application (100 last month); 22 new registrations (8 last month), 55 renewals (41 last month) and 64 updates (51 last month). The council collected £6,572 income during November (4256 last month)
• 2 Officers attended their graduation ceremony on 28 November 2025 (CIH Level 4 Housing Diploma).

Key areas of focus in November for the Communications & Engagement team included the official opening of Twechar Outdoor Pursuits Centre, the Gritter naming competition and the 16 Days of Action against Gender Violence campaign.

Media relations increased this month with 10 releases issued (10 in October), 10 photocalls (two in October) and 46 media enquiries dealt with (17 in October).

All releases are on the Council website news section and the local coverage achieved equated to an equivalent advertising value of £7,320 (£7,352 in October.)

Facebook, X, Instagram and LinkedIn all saw increases in followers with the most popular posts this month relating to Westerhill Development Road, changes to parking charges in the run up to Christmas and the removal of a recycling bring site.

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 178,770 visits (excluding internal traffic) with the most popular page Bins, Waste and Recycling receiving 28,978 views.

There were 7,288 call-to-action button clicks, 5,989 of these were customers completing online forms.

The most watched video on Facebook was Twechar Outdoor Pursuits Centre with 59,862 views and on YouTube it was the Budget Consultation with 207 views.

Two videos were created this month with 45 design jobs completed overall.

In November 2025, the Corporate Performance and Research team continued to fulfil required duties in relation to reporting of performance and risk management at a corporate level and provision of service level data and statistical support.

Additionally, the team continues 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 across the team 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. Awareness raising and training in relation to complaints handling is being delivered across wider Council portfolios.

The Customer Services team handled a variety of customer enquiries and requests during the month of November, including 8,677 phone calls, 136 Community Hub appointments and 693 Community Hub customer drop-ins. These figures are slightly down on the previous month. Throughout November the team continued to focus on improving enquiry response times, it is essential the team provides a prompt and efficient service to customers across all contact channels. 

Final configuration and testing of Community Hub appointment functionality within the Customer Relationship Management (CRM) was concluded in November.  Customer Service Agents will undertake training in December in readiness for a soft launch in January 2026. Initially, this functionality this will be used by customer service agents to book appointments before being made available to customers for self-service appointment booking on the website. This is part of our approach to increasing digital access to services, ensuring customers have greater choice in how they engage with the Council. 

The Emergency Response team continues to provide support to both East and West Dunbartonshire’s analogue to digital programmes. This work will be ongoing until all 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 local government Digital Office, sharing best practice and knowledge ensuring the system functionality is continually improving. 

A new Receptionist was welcomed into the team, joining the recently recruited Emergency Response Centre Agent and a Customer Service Agent awaiting an agreed start date. 

Human Resources & Organisational Development

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.

Work continues with TU colleagues to review and update key Council workforce policies and procedures, with the Charter of Commitment, Drug Alcohol and Substance Misuse Policy and Career Break Policy all being approved by the Policy & Resources Committee in November.

A particular focus across HR&OD teams is the ongoing project to implement a new HR and Payroll system, Oracle Fusion HCM, with the preparatory works, design, development and testing of the new system requiring significant resource input.

The rationalised approach to overtime and standby claims, to ensure a single and consistent approach was also a key undertaking in November.

Communications & Engagement

• Organisation and co-ordination of Remembrance Sunday events
• Promotion of school registration period with website updates and social media
• Designed a range of assets for Mugdock Park including the cinema, exhibition, what’s on guide and winter assets
• Supported the start of the Lennoxtown Main Street project works with photocall, press release, social media and posters
• Promotion of the Healthy Habits school sticker competition with prize giving photocall, press release and social media,
• Promotion of key awareness days including Bonfire Night, Fitness to Drive and lighting up buildings for Poppy Scotland, Pancreatic Cancer and 16 Days of Action Against Gender Violence.

Corporate Performance

• The Initial draft of the 2024/25 Public Performance Report was completed for publication following release of updated LGBF data in December
• Initial analysis was undertaken in regards to the Council’s budget survey to inform decisions around Council budget setting for 2026/27 and beyond
• Training materials were developed for complaints handing training which is being delivered initially to Customer services agents in December 2025
• Successful collation and submission of annual Looked after Children and Child Protection data returns
• Continued assistance was provided to the change team in relation to the rollout of Oracle Fusion
• Data support and assistance provided in the ongoing reviews of disability services in the Health and Social Care Partnership.

Customer Services

• Continued development of recently implemented systems makes steady progress to roll out additional functionality and features for the benefit of customers
• The team prepare for winter ensuring they are familiar with all Council winter service provisions and processes in place
• Training is underway for newly recruited Emergency Response Centre Agent and Receptionist.

Human Resources & Organisational Development 

• Continued engagement with the Trade Unions on strategic and operation HR initiatives, including service reviews and policy development
• Following agreement with Trade Unions, the Career Break Policy, Drug Alcohol & Substance Misuse Policy and the Charter of Commitment progressed to Policy and Resources committee for approval
• Continued support for employees and managers on HR policy based and guidance noted, with support in attendance on ER case work
• Job Evaluation Steering Group was held in November
• 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
• Preparatory work and testing in relation to implementing the agreed Teachers Pay Award
• 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
• Through the cross organisational working group, development work of the Equally Safe at Work initiative continued with employee survey and workshop planned
• The People Development team delivered sessions across a number of topics including SMART Working, H&S, Induction and EDC policy sessions. Continued support by team in the facilitation of statutory training in a number of services areas to ensure continued compliance and certification. 109 delegates received training across a range of topics.  

The Health Information Hubs partnership with GGCHSCP continues to develop.  Period 8 saw the introduction of  “Weaning Fayres” at William Patrick and Bishopbriggs libraries. These sessions follow on from BookBug events and offer parents of babies access to professional health and wellbeing advice on transitioning their babies on to solid foods. This first session included a talk and Q&A with an NHS dietician. 

Book Week Scotland is an annual celebration of books and reading which, this year, took place from 17th to 23rd November.  The library service delivered its highest ever number of events to take place across the authority, made possible thanks to funding from the Scottish Book Trust.  The service teamed up with local writers groups to deliver a programme of author talks targeted at adults, while the Children & Families team delivered events for children including a poetry workshop with Laura Fyfe (Stirling Makar 2024)at Holy Trinity primary school, and a series of visits to other local primary schools and Killermont Nursery.
 
The Coding & Gaming Project, funded by the Public Library Improvement Fund (PLIF), is designed to reach out to senior primary children and teenagers and is well underway delivering Minecraft coding sessions.  To date afterschool sessions have been delivered at Bishopbriggs, Lennoxtown, Milngavie, Westerton and William Patrick libraries. 

The Children & Families Team provided professional support to Lennoxtown Primary School to help establish its own library.  Two representatives from each year group visited Lennoxtown Library and talked with staff about the best ways to design and run a library.

Archives & Local Studies welcomed 1,656 visitors and received 356 enquiries during period 8, while volunteers gave 33 hours of their time to support collections work.  The Auld Kirk Museum, Kirkintilloch Town Hall, Lillie Art Gallery and outreach displays received 1,535 visitors. 

The Heritage & Arts service had 5,942 digital visitors across its range of platforms, including 2,844 to the online collections catalogue, which is the highest figure, so far, this year. 

November was a busy month for arts events, performances and exhibitions.  136 children and adults took part in the popular creative art workshops, Kilmardinny House was the setting for a theatre performance of  “Dracula” attended by 120 theatregoers, while 188 comedy fans attended a show from comedian Sanjeev Kohli at Kirkintilloch Town Hall.  The crowd loved it, with one person commenting “A fantastic night, you need to put on more events at the town hall, we will come to  them all”

As well as continuing to support the NHS as a vaccination centre, Kirkintilloch Town Hall hosted a total of 95 events ranging from a charity tapathon to a boxing event, a Lord Lieutenant dinner and textile and art classes. 

The Auld Kirk Museum and Lillie Art Gallery opened their annual Christmas exhibitions, showcasing a wide range of local craft makers and beautiful gifts for unique Christmas gifts. The Auld Kirk Museum also supported a visit from Lennoxtown Primary School, who came to learn about the romans. The pupils enjoyed exploring the permanent roman display and dressing up in centurion costumes. 

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With effect 1 November 2025 Charlie’s Big Adventure Soft Play introduced a charge of £1.00 per adult following extensive benchmarking. In the first period income was up by circa £1k on target.

Scotia ASC held their club championship on Monday 3rd and 10th November 2025. Both championships were well attended and operated without any issue.

Headcounts for the period were up on last year from 27,387 to 30,881 (12.99%) attributing to a cumulative headcount increase to the end of period 8 of 7.8%.

A personal safety course was held at the Allander Leisure Centre on Tuesday 18th November. 14 delegates from the management team across EDLC participated and the feedback was positive. This type of training will be delivered more widely across our front of house teams as the number of incidents of anti-social behaviour increases.

Kirkintilloch Leisure Centre

Overall centre usage was slightly below that of the same period last year, by just under 1%, with the Gym 1.5% down. 

The period witnessed the retirement of a long-standing member of Centre staff, Willie Docherty Leisure Officer, who had completed 47 years and 9 months of service with EDLC and EDC. A farewell lunch was held in the Centre for colleagues to mark the contribution Willie had made throughout the years and to wish him a long and happy retirement. Representatives from the GMB were also present as Willie had also been a Trades Union steward for many years.

Active Schools & Community Sport

Whole Family Wellbeing Fund

The project continues to develop with the following sessions completed by the end of November 2025:

• Swimming – 8 pupils from Woodland View took part in a 5-week block of swimming lessons at the Allander Leisure Centre, we are now into the 2nd block of swimming provision for Woodland View pupils
• Harestanes PS – The ELR unit at Harestanes PS completed a 6 week block of multi-sports activity in the school
• ELR Nurture Unit Delivery – We’re now in week 4 of multi-sport activity in 8 schools across East Dunbartonshire. 2 ELRs and 6 nurture units. We are on track to deliver multi-sport activities to all schools with ELR/nurture units by the end of next term.

An interim report has been completed to the funder which details successes, learning so far, areas for improvement and next steps. The project is on track to deliver to all ELR/Nurture Units before the end of term.

FUNdamentals - pilot sessions

The Community Sport team, with the support of Active Schools, have successfully delivered a block of new FUNdamentals classes free of charge to children within Kirkintilloch Leisure Centre. Approx 25 children took part, with 14 continuing to the paid session at the end of the 4 week block.

The sessions will now be rolled out across the three Leisure Centres, with a communications plan developed which helps to advertise the new sessions and increase participation. 

Gymnastics Equipment - Kirkintilloch Leisure Centre

The Community Sport team and has worked with Kirkintilloch Lesiure Centre to jointly fund the upgrading of gymnastics equipment currently used within the venue. The new equipment will improve the quality of the session delivered by Community Sport coaches, as well as attract new participants to join the popular gymnastics programme.

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The Service has made very good progress against priorities in the Business and Improvement Plan (BIP) 2024-2027. 

• A Quality Review of Boclair Academy was supported by a team of Senior Leaders and Principal Teachers from 6 other secondary schools. This collaborative approach is a key professional learning opportunity for Senior and Middle Leaders in developing evaluative skills in relation to How good is our school? (HGIOS)
• Insight Attainment meetings have taken place in all secondary schools. These collaborative improvement visits support schools to analyse data and evaluate progress in national priorities including literacy and numeracy. All schools have identified next steps and areas for continued improvement
• The Primary Quality Improvement Officers have completed attainment visits to all primary schools. During these visits analysis of achievement of a level tracking data and targeted interventions is discussed and challenged across P1, P4 and P7
• The ASN seminar took place on Wednesday 12 November with all services and schools in attendance, this was centred on supporting and working effectively with parents and carers, was highly productive and well received. Staff engagement was thoughtful and constructive, with participants showing a strong commitment to strengthening partnerships with families. The seminar was opened by Professor Gale Macleod from the University of Edinburgh, giving a summary of parental engagement and involvement across Scotland
• St. Matthew’s Primary school HMIE Inspection graded the school Very Good in Learning and Teaching and Raising Attainment and Achievement. HMIE Inspectors recognised the strong leadership of the Head Teacher, a culture of staff engaging in Professional Learning and highly effective approaches to teaching Literacy and Numeracy
• The Parental Involvement Strategy was launched to all Central Officers, Senior leaders in Early Years, Primary and Secondary schools and Parent Council representatives. Feedback gathered was positive
• The Secondary Learning Festival evaluation was shared with schools and professional learning resources from all workshops uploaded into Teams for staff. Evaluations were strongly positive; 98% of staff valued the opportunity to engage with colleagues, 97% agreed workshops supported their professional learning, 98% agreed that their workshop earning would enhance their practice and 96% requested further opportunities for collaboration. Feedback comments will shape approaches to further collaborative work, including work on the Curriculum Improvement Cycle.

School and Early Years Centre Awards and Achievements

• Boclair Academy won the Scottish Heat of the Bar Mock Trial in the High Court in Glasgow. Taking on roles such as Advocates, witnesses and court staff, Boclair students prosecuted and defended cases against other Scottish schools in front of Judges from the faculty of Advocates in Scotland. Following their success, the team now moves on to compete in the UK finals as Scottish Champions in March 2026. Another notable success for EDC was the performance of Bishopbriggs Academy who placed second
• Gartconner Primary School and Early Years Centres has achieved their Gold Rights Respecting Schools Award in recognition of the outstanding work they are doing to embed Children’s Rights
• Pupil (S4) represented St Ninian’s High School in the Hunter Foundation’s “If I Ruled Scotland” competition. The video entry was awarded an outstanding second place out of 575 entries nationally. This achievement secures a prize of £2,500 for the school. The pupil will be taking the lead role in deciding how this money will be spent, giving a direct voice in enhancing the school environment
• Following the annual regional heat of the Scottish Mathematical Council Enterprising Maths competition, teams from Bishopbriggs Academy and Boclair Academy won the right to represent East Dunbartonshire at the National finals, held at the Glasgow Science Centre. Teams of 2 S3 and 2 S4 pupils worked together over several strongly contested heats with Boclair being placed 27th and Bishopbriggs placed 38 out of 53 schools
• Balmuildy Primary welcomed Children’s Laureate Frank Cottrell-Boyce on Wednesday 26 November. The Bishopbriggs primary was the only school in Scotland to receive a visit from the best-selling author, as part of his three-day literary tour of the country.

Early Years, Primary, Secondary and Supporting Families

• Early Years and Primary colleagues trained in Families Connect had the opportunity to come together with Peeple provider to share practice, build confidence in delivery and discuss resource needs. The session was well attended with most trained staff in attendance. There has been an increase in Family Learning approaches evidenced in some Early Years Centres (EYCs) and in schools with nurture bases. The family learning assistants are now working with teachers and central officers to create a resource suitable for working with children and families in upper primary
• Senior Leaders from East Dunbartonshire EYCs attended a workshop on using the Quality Framework Self Evaluation Toolkit, developed through the West Partnership and adapted to strengthen quality assurance processes in our early years centres taking account of the new Quality Framework.  There was representation from most centres
• Funded childminders attended a professional learning session on introducing the New Quality Improvement Framework, embedding Setting the Table guidance and The Early Years Community Assessment Team processes. The childminders had the opportunity to explore the layout of the new documents, discuss quality improvement and develop their ideas about self- evaluating their service. The session also provided information on the Early Years Assessment Team and accessing support for Children with additional support needs
• The Corporate Communications Team were involved in a project sharing some of the wonderful play opportunities available in our schools with West Partnership colleagues. Two schools participated with parents, children and staff involvement. The project is focused on how we share positive transitions and play pedagogy with parents and will form part of a wider video and infographic to be shared across the West Partnership
• Practitioners from across early level attended a Professional Learning Community (PLC) for Play Pedagogy focusing on observation. Presentations were provided by council officers and practitioners from Gartconner EYC
• A second practitioner led session on Leading Language was delivered by Senior Early Years Workers form early years settings offering an opportunity to share their learning from train the trainers' sessions attended. All who responded said that the session met their training expectations through the interactive and practical session to support early language acquisition
• The Froebel Trust Grant award for the West Froebel Friends group allowed us to offer another online twilight session. Over 100 participants attend the session Delivered by Dr Carole Bolch on the value and learning of introducing clay to young children
• Most schools hosted gifting events to distribute the Scottish Book Trust Bookbug and Read, Write, Count packs to P1, P2 and P3 cohorts. The Literacy and Numeracy Development Officers provided teachers with additional professional learning to maximise the impact of these valuable packs
• Reading Pedagogy professional learning sessions delivered by the Literacy Development Officer were attended by almost 50 practitioners across Early Years and Primary establishments. All practitioners who completed the evaluation of the sessions either ‘strongly agreed’ or ‘agreed’ that the sessions had provided them with a greater understanding on the components of reading
• Author Claire Miller visited Hillhead Primary and Lairdsland Primary. The author visit was funded by the Kirkintilloch Business Improvement District
• Practitioners from Oxgang Primary, Millersneuk Primary and Baljaffray Early Years attended the launch of the Learning to Read in the Early Years National Programme with Education Scotland
• All Secondary DYW Leads and school DYW coordinators took part in professional learning delivered by SDs on the 16+ Participation Portal. This will support pathways for young people.

ASN and Children’s Services

• Child Protection Coordinators demonstrated a strong commitment to safeguarding by actively engaging in the recent child protection learning session which took place on Tuesday 18th November. With a representation from almost all primary and secondary schools, participation was highly positive, with clear evidence of reflective practice and strong understanding of their leadership responsibilities relating to child protection. 
  Presentations from senior practitioners from Scottish Children’s Reporter Administration (SCRA) and Bairn’s Hoose, provided an opportunity to strengthen partnership working, reinforcing Getting it Right for Every Child (GIRFEC) core principles
• WOSDEC delivered a highly effective staff session on anti-racist education and the associated toolkit to 17 representatives from primary schools on Monday 16th November. The session was well-received, offering practical strategies that staff recognised as valuable for improving classroom experiences and developing whole school culture
• A group of young people from Champs Board, Secondary Wellbeing Support Service and St Ninian’s High school contributed towards evaluation of Whole Family Wellbeing Fund grant applications; their views will fully inform planning and provision of services within the fund
• The Whole Family Wellbeing Team have successfully delivered an 8-week Non Violence Resistance (NVR) parents programme within Hillhead Community Centre
• Sleep and Talking Mats Professional Learning Communities have been delivered to staff who had previously completed training. These sessions allow staff to embed learning into their practice
• Professional learning was delivered to new and existing senior and middle managers in schools around Equalities, including the associated legislation and guidance. Within the session there was a clear focus around rights, responsibilities as a local authority in addition to highlighting systems used for recording incidents related to bullying or equalities. 

Educational Psychology Service (EPS)

• The EPS continue to deliver Trauma level 1 and 2 training to multi-agency participants. Training is evaluated very positively, and follow-up sessions successfully capture evidence of changes in practice following the training
• Across education and social work, eleven professionals continue to undertake their Level 3 NVR training, and three professionals have completed Level 4 training. Regular PLCs continue to evidence NVR usage within day-to-day practise
• Continuing the work to support Learners with dyslexia, the Education Working Group have drafted a strategic overview to complement the training plan, following feedback from consultation
• Nurture PLCs continue to be regularly held and very well attended. PLCs in November have included guidance and support on completing and using the Boxall profile to support the focus and evaluation of work with children and young people in need of nurturing approaches
• A revised programme of attendance training has been prepared to focus on schools where attendance is on their SIP, in response to data from identified schools within the current programme and consideration of including those out-with the cohort

School Planning and Improvement

• Milngavie Primary School Refurbishment Project continues to develop well.  An onsite meeting was held between the Education Service and the school Parent Council to highlight the work that has been undertaken at both school buildings Parent Council received this information with delight and are happy with the progress.  Advised that a further visit will be scheduled around the Easter break next year
• There was successful recruitment of permanent Headteachers for Torrance and Harestanes Primary Schools
• Balmuildy Primary School replacement project continues to develop with the Major Asset Team and wider Project Team with continued engagement and finalisation of internal fixture and fittings along with choosing of colour for the furniture with the schools management team
• Lenzie Academy replacement project continues to develop following the three consultation events which took place in October. Additional consultation events with the school continue to progress with finalisation of internal configuration
• Workforce Planning Team continues to support the planning for Reduction in Class Contact Time (RCCT) for schools. This is reviewing the additionality of teachers required to support the move from 22.5hrs teacher contact time with class down to 21hrs.

Skills for Life, Learning and Work

The Parental Employment programme which provides paid work experience opportunities for low-income parents has already supported 3 participants from Phase 1 into permanent employment in the areas of early years, support for learning and libraries. Two participants from Phase 2 which only started in September have already secured permanent jobs in Facilities Management.

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Finance 

The month of November saw the Finance Team continuing year end tasks required for the collation of 2024/25 accounts and planning for the 2026/27 budgets. In addition, the team continues to respond to audit queries on the 2023/24 accounts as this audit progresses towards finalisation. As the finance team works through a critical period of demands on the team, an additional 1 FTE resource continues to temporarily supplement existing teams and to help manage the external audit process and timeline risks. Movement into Phase 2 of the ledger system with HCM is also in progress and this has been staffed with an additional 0.5 full time equivalent within the Finance team as a further temporary resource. However, the Service is currently working with fewer accountants, and some absence within the team. An internal training process has begun to remedy this long term.

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

The team is now costing the 2026/27 budget position, for phase 1, in order to provide a balanced position in a highly challenging financial context.

Revenues & Benefits

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

The Council Tax Collection Rate at 73.29% is behind the target of 73.82% for this point in the year. This reflects a continued trend of more residents making 12 annual payments instead of 10, which reduces the monthly income from April to January but should see increases in February and March. The Council’s Recovery and Enforcement Procedures continue to be applied, and individuals being signposted to the exemptions and discounts available as appropriate.

Shared Services

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

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

ICT Services 

The ICT Services team continues to support the Council’s information technology systems and services to ensure high availability and performance in line with agreed service levels. The Team resolved 922 tickets in November and dealt with 255 telephone calls. ICT continues to support the delivery of major projects in conjunction with the Business & Digital Change Team and Major Assets team. The ICT Security team continues to monitor the estate and perimeter defences alongside ongoing improvements to ensure that our systems and data are protected.

Housing Rent and Tenant Participation 

The maximisation of housing rental income and pursuit of rent arrears continues to be a priority for the service, to safeguard income. This is achieved by a dedicated team of Officers, whose role is to actively pursue rent arrears and provide advice and support to tenants struggling to pay their rent. This includes issuing letters, home visits, telephone calls, emails, etc, which begin as soon as arrears are accrued on a rent account; pre tenancy advice on rent charges, payment options and discussing rent affordability to new tenants at the time of offer acceptance of their new tenancy; signposting tenants struggling financially to relevant support services to ensure household incomes are maximised; having a weekly presence at Kirkintilloch Job Centre to provide additional support for tenants in receipt of the housing element of Universal Credit; and escalating arrears actions to include court action or eviction for serious rent arrears cases. Active rent arrears of £1,324,686 are £24,031 lower than at the same period as last year. The team are committed to working with tenants to reduce arrears further.
 
The Tenant Participation Team continues to provide direct ongoing support to active Tenants and Residents Associations.

Business & Digital Change Team

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

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

Internal Audit 

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

Corporate Fraud 

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

As part of this effort, the team has received in excess of 6,000 data matches from the National Fraud Initiative (NFI)—a data matching exercise led by Audit Scotland to detect fraud and error. These matches were released in phases and have now all been received. The team continue to review the high-risk and high-value matches. The matching of Council Tax records against Electoral Registration records is nearing completion, the savings and additional income identified now total £0.360m.

The review of data matches against HMRC is ongoing and is not anticipated to continue throughout the year. A tailored training programme is being developed for employees in Revenues & Benefits. While the development of an in-house anti-fraud and bribery training package has been temporarily paused due to resource constraints, it will resume when capacity allows.

The Economic Crime and Transparency Act 2023 has from 1 September 2025, introduced a new criminal offence applicable to public bodies who fail to prevent fraud by employees or agents. The team have attended briefing sessions held by CIFAS on the measures required to be taken to ensure compliance. A briefing document for SLT and fraud risk assessment templates have been developed and issued to SLT for consideration.

Finance 

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

The final Treasury Management report of 2024/25 has been submitted as well as interim updates within the revenue monitoring report and Interim Treasury Management Report of 2025/26.

Revenues and Benefits 

• In the month of November, the team issued:
  
  • 2,350 Council Tax bills and 6,550 Benefits notifications; and,
  • 150 Non-Domestic Rates bills
• 545 crisis grants and community care grant applications were received
• The team received and dealt with 2,010 documents for Council Tax queries and reduction and 515 for benefits. In addition, the team received 2,500 ATLAS notifications from DWP.
• The team dealt with 2,880 telephone enquiries.

ICT Services 

• ICT Services are working closely with the Business and Digital Change Team to implement M365 
• The Infrastructure Team:
  
  • Installed 75 Interactive Panels at 8 primary schools: Craighead, Gartconner, Holy Family, Holy Trinity, Killermont, Lairdsland, Mosshead and St Matthews
  • Replaced 73 obsolete laptops with new Windows 11 laptops. Carried out the in-place upgrade of 300 laptops from Windows 10 to Windows 11 across the corporate estate
• ICT Security have:
  
  • Implemented Cloud reporting for Internet Filtering which will increase the visibility of traffic for the ICT Security Team
  • Addressing remediations for the annual IT Health Check
  • Maintained the Council’s perimeter defences
  • Monitored the migration of devices onto newly configured hybrid platform
  • Completed a health check on critical monitoring software.
  • Upgraded the Firewall software to maintain security

Shared Services 

• The Residential Team added 84 service agreements to CareFirst for clients moving into care homes or for supported living services within their own homes
• The Homecare Team added 313 service agreements to CareFirst for clients receiving a homecare service or a direct payment
• Direct Payment Audit Team – 19 standard audits and three final audits completed for clients receiving self-direct support
• The EMA Team dealt with eight Education Maintenance Applications in November which are all processed through SEEMiS.

Housing Rent Arrears

• Active Tenant Rent Arrears were £1,324,686which is a decrease of £24,031 on same period as last year (week 34)
• Housing Officers continue to utilise all avenues to maximise rental income and reduce rent arrears, apply a firm but fair approach when escalating actions against tenants whose rent arrears are increasing, and also provide advice and assistance to tenants who engage and need additional support
• A rent arrears campaign was introduced reminding tenants to ensure their rent is prioritised in the lead up to and during the Christmas period
• Weekly Tuesday morning appointments for tenants at Kirkintilloch Job Centre with Housing Officers and Work Coaches to assist those in receipt of the Universal Credit housing element.

 Business & Digital Change 

• During this period, the Business Systems team upgraded two system environments, resolved 10 incidents, assisted with siz projects and continued contributing to the Windows 11 rollout
• Based on organisational feedback regarding HCM go-live restrictions and current Parallel Pay Run (PPR) accuracy, the HCM go-live has been postponed to later in 2026. While PPR and testing continue, work is underway to agree a new implementation plan and go live date
• The implementation of automated payment processes for voluntary organisations within Adult Services. 
• Providing audit support by extracting and providing data from both current and legacy application platforms. 
• The team has worked to address the integration challenges between the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) and Housing solution
• Development of the Disclosure Scotland app is progressing well, with final troubleshooting of minor bugs ahead of user testing
• Replacement of the bespoke Mugdock Country Park booking system is proceeding at pace. Point of Sale interface has been built and tested
• Public Lettings development continues with process maps complete and demo scheduled for early December
• Planning has begun for site number two, Stockiemuir, as part of our ongoing sheltered housing modernisation project
• Testing is complete, and the team is now preparing for a soft launch of the new CRM based QMatic HUB bookings system. 

Internal Audit 

• The Team is working on completing the 2025/26 Internal Audit Plan, in line with available resources. There is a vacancy at the Audit & Risk Manager level and one Audit Senior post from November onwards
• Advice is continuing to be provided by Internal Audit in line with the Internal Audit Charter to support the enhancement of governance arrangements, risk management and controls
• Work on the 2025/26 plan 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. 
  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 to fraud and any potential reputational damage
• The team is focused on maximising its value adding activity through prioritising large value cases, which in some instances are challenging to resolve and require an update of the policy base to support action – specifically the creation of a Communications Data Policy
• The team will also be focussing on the measures required to ensure compliance with The Economic Crime and Transparency Act 2023.

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

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

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

Key Achievements:

• An unannounced Care at Home inspection resulted in two Very Good and two Good grades, with all previous requirements and improvement actions fully met. Inspectors praised the strong management presence, positive team culture, high-quality care and support, and effective quality assurance systems
• Alcohol and Drug Recovery Service waiting times continue to perform well above target, with a standard of 20 days from referral to treatment. In Quarter 2, 95.2% of completed cases were seen within three weeks. This strong performance demonstrates sustained timely access to services
• The HSCP’s Digital Strategy 2025-2030 was approved, providing a clear framework focused on digital culture, innovation, data, and collaboration to improve staff and service user experience. The Strategy has been developed to support delivery of the HSCP Strategic Plan and sets out the HSCP’s strategic direction, key drivers, local context and priorities for delivering the digital agenda to better support patients and service users in accessing health and social care services.
• Promotional activity in support of:
  
  • Future Care Planning
  • World Mental Health Day
  • Alcohol and Drug Recovery Service’s annual survey.

Areas of Focus:

HSCP Wide:

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

Children and Criminal Justice Services:

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

Adult Services:

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

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

• The Council received the outcome of the Gate Check on the Evidence Report for Local Development Plan 3 (LDP3) on 05 November 2025.  While the Reporter found that the Evidence Report provides a comprehensive summary of evidence gathered on topics relevant to the preparation of the next East Dunbartonshire Local Development Plan, an insufficiency of evidence was found in three specific areas: education and health care infrastructure and the setting of indicative Local Housing Land Requirement.  Officers are currently reviewing the Assessment Report and will determine the necessary steps to fully meet the Reporter’s recommendations.
• As part of the ongoing preparation of LDP3 an updated Development Plan Scheme (DPS) was approved by the Place, Neighbourhood & Corporate Assets committee on 06 November 2025.  The proposed DPS contained two ‘routes’ for progressing work with LDP3 dependent on the outcome of the Gate Check.  As the Evidence Report has currently been deemed as insufficient the ‘route’ reflecting this outcome has been chosen and the updated DPS has been published on the Council’s website.
• The Land Planning Policy team has also fed into national discussions on the Evidence Report process and how it can be improved.
• A Call for Ideas and Sites consultation as part of the preparation of the Proposed Plan for LDP3 was undertaken between July 2025 and September 2025.  Officers will consider all of the information received during the consultation as part of the preparation of the Proposed Plan.  As part of early work on the Proposed Plan a school’s engagement session was held at Bearsden Academy on 05 November 2025 and was attended by representatives from Turnbull High and Kirkintilloch High as well as the host school. 
• The Chief Planner, Land Planning Policy Team Leader and Development Applications Planning Team Leader met with the National Planning Improvement Team on 06 November 2025 to discuss progress in implementing the improvement actions set out within the National Planning Improvement Framework for East Dunbartonshire.  An update report is expected to be published in December 2025.
• Work is continuing on identifying priority projects for inclusion in the Council’s new Greenspace Strategy, which will replace the current Green Network Strategy and current Open Space Strategy.  Work is continuing on an updated Open Space Audit which will support the development of the strategy.  This includes a targeted engagement event for community groups which was held in Milngavie Community Library and Education Centre on 13 November 2025.  An event in Kirkintilloch will be held in December 2025.

• Following Council approval of the draft CAP for consultation in October (EDC/035/25/RS), the consultation, which was organised in collaboration with the Council’s comms team and EDVA, commenced on 13 October 2025 and is running until 19 December 2025. Events held across East Dunbartonshire so far include drop-in sessions, a digital event, a school engagement event, targeted events for disadvantaged communities, and bespoke events in response to requests from communities.  Details of input received is being written up in a report of consultation.
• Following the report for Community Planning Partnership Board on the Climate Action Plan and its public consultation in October 2025 (CPPB/008/25/RS), an event was scheduled for January 2026 in partnership with Skills Development Scotland to provide a presentation to careers advisors in East Dunbartonshire on emerging green job projections to help to disseminate information on forthcoming opportunities to young people and those who influence them.  Input was also provided for the forthcoming Community Learning and Development Action Plan on opportunities for alignment on green skills and community / young person engagement through the forthcoming Climate Change Forums.
• Further progress was made on the feasibility study for a heat network in central Kirkintilloch,  which secured Scottish Government funding based upon an opportunity identified in the Council’s Local Heat & Energy Efficiency Strategy (LHEES) Delivery Plan. 
• Place Neighbourhood & Corporate Assets committee approved the Public Bodies Climate Change Duty (PBCCD) Report and Carbon Management Plan (CMP) for 2024/25.  Both reports expand on emissions gathered in previous years by including estimated emissions from employee commuting and homeworking using data gathered from the Council’s employee travel survey.  The PBCCD Report was submitted to Scottish Government in advance of the deadline and initial discussions were held to schedule the 2026 employee travel survey.
• Place Neighbourhood & Corporate Assets committee approved the publication and delivery of the finalised Food Growing Strategy 2026 - 2031 for East Dunbartonshire. The extensive engagement that was undertaken in the development of the Food Growing Strategy is summarised in an accompanying report.
• Further work was undertaken on the Nature-Based Investment Study to pave way for a consultant to be appointed. The study will involve quantifying the current greenhouse gas emission absorption potential of nature in East Dunbartonshire and setting out options to leverage additional public and private investment to support environmental outcomes, contribute towards the Council’s net zero targets and deliver meaningful action to preserve and bolster flourishing biodiversity. The study will likely need to be progressed in phases due to limited availability of funding.
• Feedback was provided to Climate Ready Clyde on the draft Concordat and to inform the forthcoming Climate Ready Regions Project Pipeline.
• Updates were made to the Council’s School Travel Plans and to support a refresh of the Parking Management Plan to reflect the range of relevant Council transport initiatives that have progressed over the last couple of years.
• A Strategic Environmental Assessment service continues to be provided to colleagues across the Council including for the Greenspace Strategy and Food Growing Strategy. Sustainability input has also been provided for various planning applications in addition to ad-hoc projects from other Council teams

• The new GIS server is now up and running. We have successfully migrated numbers of maps and data from old server to new one. The maps include EDC Corporate Map, Ash dieback Map, The Estates and Property Map, The Glasgow & Clyde Valley Green Network (GCVGN) Map, Winter Maintenance Map and others. 
• The Team are currently working with a number of Teams across the Council on a range of GIS projects including Greenspace Strategy Mapping, Mapping support for FOI, The Team also continues to provide support in the preparation of LDP 3, Kirkintilloch heat network study, EDC Open Space Audit 
• A new GIS Service & Error Reporting Action app: we have received multiple requests through this system. The team has resolved most of them.
• The Team completed multiple address register/update requests and several address queries and new ArcGIS online accounts requests from Teams across the Council.

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

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

• The team continues with a range of work to ensure the delivery of the Council’s City Deal project. The Outline Business Case (in-line with City Deal & HM Greenbook requirements) was approved at the Glasgow City Region November 2024. Work is underway to complete Full Business Case (FBC) stage for the two project elements – Bishopbriggs Town Centre Civic Space and Westerhill Development Road and these will be presented to a meeting of Council for consideration. 
• The Westerhill Regeneration Area (WRA) planning guidance and its associated delivery plan is now adopted under LDP2. Work is taking place to promote the location and examine how different aspects of the WRA can be supported to a delivery stage, out with the current City Deal Projects. 
• Work is ongoing on the Westerhill Development Road (WDR). Planning permission is in place and final costs are prepared in November 2025 to inform Council reports and the WDR FBC. 
• Work continues on Bishopbriggs Town Centre.  The procurement of main works contractor has been undertaken, and construction cost is fed into the FBC.  Work continues with relevant landowners to progress the project. The A803 project is now out with the scope of City Deal, but work continues to look at how this can be funded and delivered through other means. Bus Infrastructure Fund funding has been identified that will be allocated to the A803, and more updates will be provided in a Technical Note. 
• The team are working with the Glasgow City Region Programme Management Office on the proposed use of additional City Deal funding that has been allocated to all eight member local authorities for the Enabling Commercial Space programme. At P&R in May 2025, approval was given to utilise the funding to help deliver commercial floorspace in the Southbank area, linked to the Councils asset strategy for this location. Regeneration & Town Centres Team
• The Campsie Memorial Hall project in Lennoxtown secured funding from the Scottish Government’s Regeneration Capital Grant Fund, and is now on site and progressing well.
• The programme management of the Shared Prosperity Fund is ongoing to support services and projects across the Council. A range of projects have been identified and are being progressed for implementation up to end of March 2026 as part of the fourth year of SPF funding. 
• The Lennoxtown Main Street Improvement Project concluded procurement of a contractor and has progressed to the construction phase. 
• The Lennoxtown Greenspace Project aims to repurpose disused red blaes pitches at Station Road and Ferguson Parks to provide outdoor recreation spaces, enhance biodiversity, and improved active travel routes. The project has secured funding from the Scottish Government’s Vacant and Derelict Land Investment Programme (VDLIP). The VDLIP funding will deliver improvements to Station Road Park where it’s anticipated works will begin in 2026. The designs have been developed in partnership with the local community. Work relating to this procurement is ongoing.   
• Construction of the Twechar Canalside Outdoor Pursuits Centre is complete, the official opening took place in October.  
• Work is ongoing with the Milngavie BID and Kirkintilloch BID as they move through year one of a five-year term. 
• Work is taking place to develop a follow up business case to set out more details on what is required to prepare a Visitor Levy and how a Visitor Levy could operate in East Dunbartonshire. The work will set out options for consideration at the relevant Council committee. 

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

• During the reporting period the planning side of the team has determined 56 applications and validated 54 applications. 
• The Building Standards team have received 85 building warrants and approved 90 applications.  
• The Enforcement Team closed 5 cases.
• The Development Applications team have been busy preparing reports for the next forthcoming Planning Board and Local Review Body meeting. 
• The Team have been supporting the Council’s Housing and Major Assets teams with pre application technical advice for the next round of projects.
• Both Planning and Building Standards teams continue to offer support and informal advice to customers through our daily duty service Monday to Friday. 

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

   

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

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

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

Members will be aware that the Council requires to hold a by-election in order to fill a vacancy in Ward 3 – Bearsden South.  The Team is currently planning for the forthcoming by-election scheduled for Thursday, 29 January 2026.  Regular Technical Notes have been issued to Members highlighting key dates etc and this will continue through to polling day.

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

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

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

Key Achievements / Areas of Focus

• Registration & Customer Services completed 57 birth and 168 death registrations in November.  18 marriages and 4 civil partnerships were also registered in this period.  
• Citizenship Ceremonies were held to welcome 10 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 190 FOI/EIRs, 8 internal review requests and 14 SARs (Subject Access Requests)

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

Performance against all indicators for Legal Services for November 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 November, the Team processed 3 contract review forms and 1 contract award letter, 1 open market purchase,37 taxi licence applications, and 3 housing repair grants.  All were processed within the timescales.  Considering this, it is not proposed to take any steps currently other than to continue to monitor progress against the set PIs.
• The Team continued to provide support to the wider City Deal team with advice and support including supporting procurement of the contractor for the construction of the Bishopbriggs Town Centre Civic Space project, negotiating contracts for land acquisition, both temporary and permanent, for the Westerhill Development Road project and reviewing contracts ancillary to land acquisition for the Bishopbriggs Town Centre Civic Space project.
• Property and planning work included concluding open market purchase of 27 Monkland Avenue, a shared equity purchase, new lease for suite and concluded a section 75 agreement for residential development at New Kilpatrick Parish Church Old Halls, Bearsden for developer contributions towards affordable housing, education, open space and primary healthcare.
• Contracts and procurement work in this period included contracts awarded for Stanley Drive Play Park, Urban Greening Factory Study and Bishopbriggs Play Area Project; contracts concluded included Kings Trust Awards and DPA for Accessit Library management System,  
• Grants offers accepted included funding grants for 20mph implementation, strategic equity funding and pupil equity funding.
• 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 a four-day hearing at the Employment Tribunal, resolving a case for the Trust and continued participation as a core member of the Equally Safe at Work Group to facilitate working towards Bronze level accreditation for the Council.

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

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

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

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

Key Achievements / Areas of Focus

• Providing ongoing support to the City Deal team in relation to Contract requirements and alternative procurement route options.
• Supported key Capital, Business & Digital Change projects such as Oracle Fusion upgrade , Fusion HCM Phase 2, IHMS, City Deal projects to support Westerhill Development Road, Capital projects such as  school estate Professional Fees, Lennoxtown Main Street, school new build contracts, and general budget projects such as school maintenance works, Systems Support  whilst supporting workforce of the future planning and Business as Usual workstreams.
• Participation in extensive meetings and workshops to train, test, reconcile data transfer and solution implementation for the Oracle Fusion Redwood upgrade.
• Completed renewals for support and maintenance of business-critical systems to facilitate workforce of the future.
• Ongoing support to the /implementation of Fusion to support the technical requirements for Payment integrations, Managed Stores, and e-invoicing. 
• Information gathering to support the 2024-2025 Annual Procurement Report to include alignments with organisational Climate Action Planning, Circular Economy Strategy, Community Wealth Building & the City Region Community Wish List planning.
• Processing and payment of Welfare Support Payments in line with Council support requirements.
  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.
• Ongoing work on the review of Contract Standing Orders for alignment with organisational changes, financial management and Procurement governance.
• Continued Fusion Redwood upgrade actions and communications in alignment with the quarterly Oracle schedules, managing the backlog resulting from the system downtime and managing business as usual.
• Continued workstreams for the Oracle Fusion upgrade to Redwood Self Service Procurement, including testing and revisiting personalisation to consider business impacts.
• Continued workstreams for the implementation of the Oracle Fusion Supplier Portal, including testing and revisiting system set up prior to roll out in March 2026.
• Review of resourcing considerations to support Project workload and business as usual priorities.
• Publication of external third party spend for the 2024-2025 financial year to Scottish Government
• Supporting By-Election and Scottish Parliamentary election planning

During November, the Strategic Commissioning Team continued to support the HSCP to progress transformation and budget saving related priorities whilst managing and providing daily oversight and intervention across the commissioned market.   

Key Achievements / Areas of Focus

• Progressed Option Appraisals aligned to transformation, redesign, and budget priorities. 
• Successfully secured a service extension and implemented a robust person centered transitional pathway to support an individual currently living out of area to relocate back to the local community.  
• Worked in partnership with housing colleagues to identify suitable accommodation /for individuals diagnosed with complex and challenging behaviours.  
• Contributed to and supported the progression of several HSCP strategic and service reviews and provided added value by providing project management and budget management advice and expertise.   
• Continued to monitor and report on financial frameworks underpinning strategic reviews to ensure accuracy, alignment with the HSCP’s medium term financial plan and respective commissioning delivery plans.   
• Contributed to and supported progression of multi-agency collaborative inpatient redesign approaches geared towards alleviating acute and community pressures.  
• Progressed discussions with external HSCP’s to explore the potential to co-produce & co-design a collaborative service model capable of providing cross boundary generic support to meet identified needs & outcomes & deliver value for money.
• Progressed future modelling options for respite and other services aligned to the Strategic Review of Learning Disabilities. 
   

Click image to enlarge.

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

This Service area is divided into eight portfolio groupings:

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

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

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

The team continue to deliver both planned and reactive maintenance to both carriageways, footways, and street lighting assets. The Service now have filled all operational vacancies and is working to clear any backlog of works. the Service currently have one Roads Technician vacancy which is now advertised with interviews scheduled for December 2025 and an appointment in early 2026.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Waste service have continued to work with our Clyde Valley partners through the period on the treatment and disposal contract for all residual household waste.  The Council processed 1616.30 tonnes of waste through this contract in November, ensuring our waste undergoes treatment for recycling extraction prior to being sent through an Energy from Waste process.

The Fleet team continue to manage the transport operations including the Councils Goods Vehicle Operator Licence and compliance across all services.

This includes provision and management of the maintenance workshops, annual testing, statutory inspections, and management of Drivers in line with obligations and conditions laid out in the Councils commitment to the Scottish Traffic Commissioner. 

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

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

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

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

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

The H&S Manager participated in the Equally Safe at Work working group as well as 2nd Tier H&S Committee meetings for Corporate, HSCP and Education. The team were present at 3rd Tier (service level) meetings for Property Maintenance, Streetscene, Land Planning & Development, Fleet, Waste and Mugdock Country Park. Services were assisted with workplace assessments managing occupational health and individual risk assessments in collaboration with HR colleagues. Display Screen Equipment assessments are continually reviewed alongside line managers. 

Fire Warden training was conducted through this period for Hilton depot; Property Maintenance receive scaffold and asbestos training as well as UFAS training for Estates & Facilities. Other training sessions delivered were Duty Holder and Manual Handling for Education, risk assessment and incident reporting and ladder safety. 

Depot inspections were carried out this month as well as the issue of Safety alerts and Toolbox talks to support safe operations as a safety targeted approach. 

The focus continues for Construction Design and Management compliance with site visits, reviewing construction phase plans, risk assessments and method statements for refurbishment, roofing, drainage, demolitions, general estate repairs and new build and greenspace projects.  For D&I teams, Balmuildy PS new build and Milngavie PS refurbishment as well as other schools, Torrance Community Centre, Campsie Memorial Hall and Housing works received several site visits together with Mugdock Country Park repair works and playground. 

Documents were reviewed for upcoming projects, such as LP&D’s Lennoxtown Main Street, solar panel maintenance and repair and several ground and building surveying works, amongst other projects. To support Estates & Facilities team in their CDM works, reviews were undertaken for repair works in educational establishments and other corporate buildings.

Fire Risk Assessments are conducted in accordance with the predetermined schedule.  Officers undertake routine inspections and continue to carry out site visits to address fire safety concerns, assess fire doors where required and support with personal emergency evacuation plans, offering expert advice. PPP Schools were targeted this month for fire safety risk assessments working together with Estates & Facilities for review of carbon monoxide detectors. Scottish Fire and Rescue Services audits have taken place in some of our council sleeping premises and Council fire safety officers have supported the audits post visit to address audits’ focus areas.

Roads Network Operations Teams (including Street Lighting)

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

Between 01/10/2025 and 31/10/2025, we have identified 242 defects in East Dunbartonshire Council carriageways and footways. We have completed 191 repairs on time (approx. 76 %), 17 repaired late (approx. 7 %) and 35 repair (approx. 14 %) are in list for action and are still within SLA (incomplete).

Below chart compares our last three months performance:

Road Project & Maintenance Works October 2025:

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

Carriageways and footways Safety inspection

Between 01/11/2025 and 30/11/2025, East Dunbartonshire Council completed 15 scheduled safety inspections. 3 of these inspections are related to Footway inspection and 12 of them related to carriageway inspections. All inspections were completed and comply with East Dunbartonshire Council tolerance between inspections dates. Details of these inspections are as below: 

Winter Maintenance – November 2025

Between 01/11/2025 and 30/11/2025, we carried out 149 chemical actions (gritting) in East Dunbartonshire Council which 88 of these actions are related to primary carriageway routes. In total we used 615.53 tonnes of salt. Please see report below. 

Routine Annual Gully Cleaning – Performance Data (01 April 2025 to 31 October 2025)

As part of our contribution to the How Good Is Our Service report, we are pleased to provide data on routine annual gully cleaning.

• There is a total of 6,740 gullies on primary and key routes within East Dunbartonshire. Between 01 April 2025 and 30 November 2025, a total of 5,176 gullies on these routes were attended for cleaning.
• On secondary routes, there are 22,843 gullies in total. During the same reporting period, we successfully cleaned 13,813 gullies on these routes.
  This data reflects our ongoing commitment to maintaining drainage infrastructure and minimising flood risk across the road network. Please see below table. 

Structures

• 2025/26 General and Principal inspections programme ongoing.
• Review & response to abnormal load requests.
• Assisting other departments in the assessment of non-council assets. 
• Procurement process underway for FY25-27 structures framework contract.
• Procurement process underway for replacement of FB52 Clober Road Footbridge.
• SAC23 Nicolson Bridge deck repairs complete
• SCC12 West Board Twechar parapet heightening works awarded.
• Graffiti. Ongoing removal.

Flooding 

• River Glazert Restoration Project, Lennoxtown - Progressing to tender development and progressing appointment for ECoW . On-going. 
• Flooding on 15 July 25 in Bishopbriggs and surrounding areas caused damage to detention basin and remedial works are now complete. 
• Kelvin Tributaries Project – Closing out termination with previous consultants and re-tendering on-going.  
• Mains Park Milngavie unknown culverted water course – Phase 1 investigations completed. Phase 2 investigations on-going. 

Drainage 

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

Development

• Site visits to monitor progress on developments currently under construction.
• Site meetings to inspect developments and identify remedial works prior to adoption by EDC.
• Assist planning with development applications, distribute to officers for their comments on potential future developments.
• Process road adoption enquiries from internal and external departments.
• Process road opening and temporary traffic management permits.
• New traffic lights at Meadowburn / Kirkintilloch Rd Bishopbriggs now operational.
• Coordination of future works relating to development sites. 
• Recording 2026/27 capital programme on Roads Register.
• Fixed Penalty Notices sent and accepted for November 2025.

Traffic

• 20 mph proposals going through committee process.
• Commenting on various licences i.e. street trader licences, public entertainment licences, and occasional licences.
• Commenting on planning applications.
• Responding to Lining Requests and refreshing faded road markings and street signs throughout the area.
• The mechanisation of School Crossing Patroller sites Phase 2 has begun at Hunter Road. Maxwell Avenue site has been halted due to community response. Officers will provide the community with additional information.
• Transport Scotland Road Safety Improvement Fund on track for full spend on ‘children crossing to school’ road surface signs, high friction surfacing for a bend on Campsie Road with reports of the farmer having to retrieve vehicles from the field, and junction narrowing at Iain Road, Bearsden.

Streetscene Operations

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

Streetscene Technical Support

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

Mugdock Country Park Park  Footfall October – 68,500 (estimated)

• November 2025 footfall – 63,125, second busiest since counters were installed in 2018. 

School Sessions

• 2 x Wellbeing Support and 4 x Westerton Primary School 

General Free Events

• Merry Mugdock: Christmas lights, market and performances
• Peek, Petals and the Deep Blue Sea Exhibition of painting by Geoff Foord

Third Party Events

• Plain Bob Puppet Show

 Park Operations

• Regular work: Security, Fire inspections and servicing, litter picking, emptying bins, dog bins, cleaning toilets, weekly courtyard deep clean, bin housings, tables etc., playpark, toadstool trail, car park checks, gritting and maintaining spreader, leaf blowing, room cleaning and set up for bookings. 
• Project work: Undertaking signage audit, addressing leaning trees in area adjacent to play area location. 
• Reactive site maintenance: has included continuing tree work caused by Storm Amy working directly with Tree contractors to facilitate access and dealing with chippings and windblow, painting section of maintenance shed. 
• Income generation activities include Installation of Christmas decorations, setting up of Christmas market, performing in the Christmas event and hosting a marshmallow stall, meetings with Green Hollow Bowmen, regular weekly banking, 

Ranger tasks include:

·        Over November there were 12 volunteer days with a total of 84 volunteers.  Tasks completed were:

• 01/11/2025    Peitches Moor
  Birch bash - remove larger birch trees from main wetland area of Peitches Moor and herbicide stumps. Transport cut material on tarps to roadside wall for collection to add to new dead hedge at septic tanks.
• 04/11/2025    Main Avenue/Septic Tank area
  Continued dead hedge construction, LHS section completed and gap left between two sections to assess access needs for septic tank emptying.
• 06/11/2025    Drumclog Moor
  Birch seedling removal from edges of moorland; arisings cleared by dragging with tarp to within woodland.
• 11/11/2025    Mugdock Wood SSSI
  Rotation of deer exclosures in Mugdock Wood. 4 deer exclosures rotated, but only two were completed due to deteriorating weather.
• 13/11/2025    VC area/Craigend Walled Garden
  Ditch digging, litter picking, vegetation cut back
• 14/11/2025    Craigend Avenue
  Ditch digging to alleviate path erosion due to heavy rain
• 15/11/2025    Mugdock Wood/Craigend Avenue
  Rotation of deer exclosures in Mugdock Wood (AM). Remove birch brash from Craigend Field for dead hedging at later date (PM).
• 17/11/2025    Mugdock Wood, Khyber car park, Craigend Quarry
  Cut Salmonberry down to sprayable height for application in the Spring. Habitat pile willow limbs encroaching into Khyber car park. Re-route desire line path within the quarry area away from the edge.
• 18/11/2025    Mugdock Wood SSSI
  Rotation of deer exclosures in Mugdock Wood. 4 deer exclosures rotated.
• 20/11/2025    Mugdock Wood SSSI
  West Highland Way ditch clearing and run-off ditches dug.
• 20/11/2025    Mugdock Wood SSSI
  Deer exclosure work
• 20/11/2025    Gallowhill area
  Habitat building and desire line path blocking using brash
• 25/11/2025    Gallowhill Pond
  Excavation of Gallowhill Pond. Day one of the project.
• 26/11/2025    VC area/Craigend Pond
  Spiria control. Cut down Spiria to reduce height for spraying next year.
• 29/11/2025    Craigend Avenue
  Top up dead hedges along Craigend Avenue's border with Khyber Field. Use felled birch material from Craigend Field.

Visitor Centre – 

• Stock orders amounted to £746.13
• The total unaudited Retail takings for November 2025 were £2,457.91 inc VAT. 
• The largest sellers were Clothing followed by Homeware. 
• There were 640 visitors to the shop, resulting in 309 sales, which is a conversion rate of 48% similar to  previous months, however the ATV was £3.84 which is a decrease from the previous ATV of £6.11 in November. This means that the same proportion of visitors were spending, however, the visitors were spending less than in previous months. 

Non retail (not audited) income comprised of: 

DONATIONS £277.85
LETS (Non Vat) £133,82
LETS (VATABLE) £686.00

Marketing / Communications

• The social communication campaign was centred on the Walled Garden the work of volunteers creating the Garden.
• The communication stories were focused on National Tree Week and Mugdock’s ancient woodland. 
• Paid for promotions were for Merry Mugdock and The Reindeer Run. 

Projects

• Play Area: Works to surrounding fence in preparation for the installation have begun by Mugdock wardens. 
• Decorative screen: Due diligence visit undertaken and contract awarded. 
• Walled Garden volunteering: there was no take-up for the drop in session in the Walled Garden. Works are continuing with undertaking painting of the wall, bed planning, and pruning planning. 
• There continue to be on-going issues with septic tank. Works are planned for January 2026 to separate grey and black water. 
• Still waiting for works to the switch room to enable the CCTV project. 
  

• The Clyde Valley Residual Waste contract accepted 1616.30 tonnes of general waste throughout November from our households and Street Cleansing Teams for recycling pre-sort, and then ongoing production of energy from waste. This was a reduction of 9.98% compared to November 2024.
• The changes to the frontline collections have encouraged residents to utilise the food recycling available at the kerbside. We have noted an increase in food waste tonnage of 4.57% in comparison to November 2024.
• The garden waste kerbside collections have now ended for the season, and the service collected 6677.09 Tonnes of kerbside garden waste in 2025.
• The service worked with the assets service in November to introduce new welfare facilities for employees at Mavis Valley Household Waste Recycling facility.
• The team continue working with colleagues in Business Change to bring the Mavis Valley booking system in-house, the next phase has begun with the Waste Services Team testing the new system.
• 30,969 garden waste permits were sold to residents throughout the 2025 season.
• The waste services team continue to utilise the new digital technology in the creation and delivery of efficient frontline collection routes. The team continue to work on the introduction of the technology to the Commercial Waste Service.
• The waste management team are working with Improvement Services as agreed through SOLACE to look at the development of a centralised contract hub for waste management contracts. This engagement also identified Bulky Waste, as an area where collaborative working could be implemented to deliver on key priorities.
• The Team attended the Waste Managers Network and the APSE Waste and Recycling Group Meetings to collaborate and share information with Scotland’s other Local Authorities.
• The service worked with the internal Health & Safety team in a risk assessment focus group, reviewing all activities across the waste collection service.  This information is due to be distributed to all waste collection employees in the new year for feedback. 
• Mavis Valley Household Waste Recycling Centre received 10,042 bookings throughout November with an 71% attendance rate overall and customers booking on average 5 days in advance.
• Waste Services supported The Lenzie Firework Display with the provision of waste facilities.
• The Waste Technical and Compliance Team dealt with 109 Corporate Complaints
• The Waste Technical and Compliance Team dealt with 783 general enquiries. 

• During the period 01/11/2025 to 30/11/2025 there were 284 vehicles/plant inspected/repaired in line with the servicing schedule and defect procedure.
• 86% of jobs were completed within 3 days of being booked in.
• We currently have a variety of vehicles/plant on order to replace an aging fleet in line with the vehicle replacement programme.     
• Support Council services in the delivery of ASN Transport including the distribution of essential supplies for vulnerable individuals throughout the period including meals for early year’s facilities and lunch clubs etc.     
• Continued work on the management of Capital programme for the replacement of fleet assets through the financial year.        
• Continued work on the CPC training programme, to ensure all drivers that require CPC training achieve this before the deadline to remain compliant.
• Continued support to front line service operations through the provision of in-house fleet maintenance function including work on horticultural and construction plant equipment. 
• Management of Fleet Operations in compliance with Operator Licencing legislation with a DVSA Operator Compliance Risk Score of Green for both Traffic and Compliance 
• We continue to monitor external hires.
• The team worked extremely hard during this period to ensure the frontline services had enough vehicles/plant during the period to carry out their duties.
• Work is ongoing to replace the fleet management system.
• 5 HGV MOTs were prepared and presented for test, with 100% first time pass rate.
• 804 driver licences checked out of a total 1086 within last 6 months, this equates to 74%.