How Good is Our Service? April- September 2025

Property Maintenance

Progress continues to be made in maintaining and improving performance in emergency repairs across the operational estate, with targets once again exceeded during the first 6 months of 25/26.  Performance in non-emergency repairs has exceeded our 12-day target with the average turnaround time being 11.2 days over the first 6 months.  We will continue to monitor this area closely over the coming weeks and months with our focus being on maintaining and improving on target timescales for these repairs.  Gas Safety inspections remain an important focus for the service, with 100% of the annual gas safety checks completed by the required anniversary date during the first 6 months of 25/26.  Voids performance has exceeded our target of 85% in the first 6 months of the year with 87.15% of properties returned within target timescales during this period.  We have implemented additional operational measures to help maintain and improve performance in the coming months.  The percentage of repairs appointments kept for this period exceeds our target of 98.5% with 99% of appointments achieved.

Further improvements are earmarked for our Totalmobile system over the coming weeks with a view to further enhancing efficiencies within the section.  The Servitor system is due a further upgrade and will happen imminently to enable enhanced and aligned integration with the Totalmobile system.    

The service continues to ensure that all operational assets have their annual Gas Safety Check completed prior to the anniversary date.  With robust measures in place to monitor performance, all safety checks will continue to be completed throughout the year to ensure the team continue to meet our target of 100%.  During the last 6 months, works to rebuild the partial outer wall collapse at Castlehill Primary School has been completed, with work progressing to reinstate the biomass flue that was ripped from the building as a result of recent storms.  The storms also impacted Colquhoun Park Primary School and Balmuildy Primary School with works undertaken following significant water ingress in isolated areas within both schools.  

The Service continues to meet the targets of emergency and non-emergency repair works across the operational estate, engaging Property Maintenance and external contractors where applicable.  A package of refurbishment works was completed at Bearsden Primary over the summer recess, including roof works, pipe work and internal decoration to the former ICT room to provide an additional classroom.  Flooring repairs were also completed in the main assembly area.

Estates Management continue to manage the Council’s non-operational estate, reducing the number of vacant properties over the period, with the estate now 94% occupied.  Marketing exercises continue with a view to filling vacancies, with increased focus on the vacant office suites within Southbank Marina, Enterprise House and McGregor House.  The marketing of Lenzie Public Hall commenced in April 2025, with offers for continued community use expected early in 2026.

Officers continue to progress the current active disposals with colleagues in Legal Services to ensure that capital receipts are delivered and ongoing liabilities in respect of non-domestic rates, utilities, security costs and others are reduced.  The demolition of Campsie View school was completed following the fire in August 2025, with the demolition of other current vacant buildings progressing, including the former Merkland School, former Auchinairn Primary School and the Lister Petter building.

The Building Performance Team continue to assess options to upgrade Building Energy Management Systems across the Council’s operational estate to realise financial efficiencies through enhanced energy management.  The team have managed the transition of the new Water Quality Management contract.

Following the Council decision to reduce the cleaning frequency across all Council premises from a 5 day per week to a 4 day per week equivalent, officers have been working a new cleaning model/structure to account for the 20% reduction.  

Revised school menus were implemented in April with positive feedback received from a number of schools and pupils.  A revised menu will be released in October incorporating seasonality changes and feedback has shaped menu planning.  The revised menu was analysed prior to implementation and fully complies with allergen, dietary and nutritional requirements.

The uptake of free school meals in Primary schools continues to be below our set target of 75%.  There was a significant drop during the first six months of 2025/26 with uptake at 63.5%.  School trips and warmer summer months can have an impact on lunch choices. Secondary school free meal uptake exceeded the target over the first 6 months of 25/26.

Supply chain issues were experienced during this period which resulted in the unavailability of some products and subsequent menu changes.  The Service continues to utilise locally sourced produce with the target exceeded in the first 6 months of 25/26 at 56%.

During this period the Service supported Snack n Play at identified Primary schools during Easter and Summer holiday periods and the Playscheme at Woodland View School during the summer holiday period.  Over 3,250 hot nutritious meals were prepared and provided to pupils attending Snack and Play sessions.  

In May 2025, practical completion was achieved at Twechar Outdoor Pursuits Centre at Canalside, Twechar.  The facility offers meeting space and an outdoor activity base for a range of activities and will be managed and operated by the Twechar Community Action Group.  Shortly thereafter, work commenced on the construction of no.15 new affordable homes on the adjacent site, built to Passivhaus standard and which will complete the regeneration of the Canalside development site.

In June 2025, the first round of pre-application consultation was successfully completed for the Lenzie Academy project; Council also approved a report which approved the re-development of the existing school site at Myrtle Avenue, Lenzie as a community park and open space following decant of the school in the future.  The refurbishment of Bearsden Primary School reached practical completion and included the replacement of windows throughout, external doors and the refurbishment of the building’s stonework.  The construction of a new Balmuildy Primary School, Bishopbriggs commenced in July 2025, as did a significant refurbishment of both upper and lower buildings at Milngavie Primary School.

Several areas of capital investment across the Council’s existing affordable housing stock continue, including significant measures to improve Housing Quality and Energy efficiency.  These include the installation of External and Cavity Wall Insulation measures to properties in Bearsden and Milngavie in September 2025 and the on-going replacement of kitchens, bathrooms and central heating systems.  Council also approved the Stage 1 Report for the Westerhill Development Road, which was followed by the planning application submission in August 2025.

Refurbishment works commenced at Torrance Community Centre during the period and refurbishment projects at Bearsden Community Hub (RAAC roof replacement) and Campsie Memorial Hall, Torrance (refurbishment) also continued to make good progress through the period.  A number of capital projects to address school accessibility ahead of the start of the new academic year were completed during the summer holiday period and proposals for the next phase of the Council’s Affordable Housing Investment Programme have further progressed through RIBA Stage 4 over the period with projects at various stages of the planning application process.

• Achieved 100% compliance for Gas Servicing
• Exceeded target for voids turnaround timescales
• Exceeded target for Emergency housing repairs
• Exceeded target for Non-Emergency housing repairs
• Exceeded target for repairs appointments kept
• Exceeded target for Emergency Repairs
• Exceeded target for Non–Emergency Repairs
• Successfully delivered school meals during the Summer holiday period for primary school children attending Snack n Play and Playscheme initiatives.

• Continue to manage and improve void turnaround performance
• Continue to manage and mitigate levels of absence effectively
• Improve uptake of nutritious school meals
• Improve communications with customers and stakeholders to ensure the highest level of service delivery.

Community Services is responsible for the delivery of both strategic and operational services, including the Council’s statutory duties across several functional areas. The work is delivered by teams of services within the following strategic groupings: 

• Community Protection Service 
  (Community Safety, Environmental Health & Trading Standards Teams)
• Community Planning & Partnerships 
  (Community Planning & Resettlement Teams)
• Housing Operations & Estates Team
• Homelessness and Prevention Team

Community Protection provides a frontline service and delivers the Council’s statutory remits in relation to Community Safety, Environmental Health, and Trading Standards & Licensing Enforcement. 

Community Planning & Partnerships collaboratively drives community planning initiatives focusing on delivering the Locality Outcomes Improvement Plan (LOIP), Locality Plans, the resettlement agenda, and community learning and development. The goal is to enhance community well-being through strategic planning, fostering change and ensuring effective resettlement.

The Housing Operations and Estates Team are responsible for the provision and management of council housing across the local authority area.  Officers engage and support tenants and work closely with colleagues in other services such as Property Maintenance who provide repairs.  A key role of this team is managing the Common Housing Register and allocation of properties.  They work closely with a range of external partners such as CAB, and other services including Registered Social Landlords.

The Homelessness and Prevention Team manage the homelessness housing provision including temporary accommodation across the local authority and also the young persons’ housing programme of Project 101.  They are also responsible for Landlord Registration Scheme, and Short Terms Lets and HMO Licensing.

(Environmental Health, Community Safety & Trading Standards)

Community Protection comprises of three teams, all of which have a distinct remit in terms of delivering statutory community protection duties. Delivery measures are centered on the promotion of public health, public safety, well-being and consumer protection. 

During the April to September reporting period the Service has continued to actively engage in the local Co-Production arrangement with Police Scotland. Community harm and risk meetings have been held on a regular basis to facilitate the delivery of joint work and coordinated activity to protect communities across the East Dunbartonshire area, with several targeted initiatives being delivered (e.g., in relation to antisocial behaviour, youth disorder, bogus callers, licensing enforcement and parking issues). The Service has also continued to develop intelligence led approaches in terms of the services it delivers, with intelligence gathered from a range of different sources being used to target local public health, community safety and consumer protection activity towards the areas of greatest need, risk and priority.

Activity during the first half of 2025-26 has been centred upon service delivery in relation to the wide range of priorities and objectives that are associated with the regulatory work of a Community Protection Service. 

The Environmental Health Team has been engaged in the delivery of essential public health services throughout the reporting period to protect the community from hazards and exposures in the environment, and to regulate and facilitate the growth of responsible businesses. Services in relation to food safety, public health in terms of nuisances and communicable diseases, occupational health and safety, noise pollution, air quality and contaminated land have all been delivered by means of planned interventions to local businesses, reactive responses to public health complaints and any required assessments of environmental conditions across the district, such as air quality and noise. 

Officers have been involved in the delivery of a full programme of inspection and sampling activity, not least in relation to food safety matters and in line with the approved Food Safety Service Plan 2025-26.  The team has also continued to receive and deal with large numbers of enquiries and service requests relating to a variety of environmental regulation matters, with complex investigation being required in several cases.  As well as responding to large numbers of service requests the team has continued to respond to internal partners in Planning and Licensing on matters such as new developments and seasonal events respectively. In addition, officers from the team prepared and submitted the latest Annual Progress Report on Standards of Air Quality within East Dunbartonshire to representatives at SEPA and Scottish Government.

The Community Safety Team has continued to deliver a broad range of frontline work for the benefit of our local communities during the April to September period. The delivery of these services has helped to create safer communities across East Dunbartonshire, with community safety issues being tackled through effective deployment of resources and delivery of intelligence led activity. Throughout the reporting period, officers from the team have been engaged in the delivery of services in relation to antisocial behaviour, youth disorder, neighbour disputes, environmental incivilities, dog control, decriminalised parking enforcement, fly-tipping, mediation, CCTV and pest control. The team completed final preparations for commencement of enforcement of the new Transport (Scotland) Act 2019 parking prohibitions relating to pavement, double and dropped kerb parking across the Council area with effect from 1 September. Parking enforcement activity to support the traffic free schools’ pilot and all other school areas was also prevalent throughout the first half of the year.

The team has continued to experience high demand for service in relation to community safety issues throughout the first half of the year. Officers work closely with a range of colleagues and key partners to successfully deliver appropriate interventions and to make our local communities safer, with programmes of enforcement, early intervention, and prevention activity all being provided. Newly recruited Community Wardens have started to develop links within the local communities they serve, through engagement and participation in several initiatives and events that have been taking place across the area.

The Trading Standards Team has been engaged in the delivery of essential consumer protection and licensing enforcement services to local consumers and businesses to maintain and protect a fair-trading environment in East Dunbartonshire. Officers have been delivering targeted and risk-based programmes of enforcement work, with priority being given to any activities that closely align to the local outcomes in the LOIP. The  team’s Licensing Advisors carried out liquor licensing inspections to local premises. These officers were heavily involved in both processing and advice provision in relation to summer events across the council area in terms of civic licensing and additional liquor licensing to bolster the sector during the summer. Support was provided to applicants and stakeholders, whilst also linking in with other agencies.

On the Trading Standards front, priority activity during the first half of the year included work to continue develop business participation in the Trading Standards Trusted Trader Scheme for the local authority area and to further develop local scam awareness and prevention work across the local authority area in conjunction with partners.  As well as proactive inspection work, Trading Standards Officers also delivered reactive service request work and project activity at a range of business premises across the area (including high pressure selling and doorstep crime activity). New legislation to prohibit the sale/supply of single use vapes was enacted at the beginning of June and activity in this area has subsequently been prioritised. The gathering and dissemination of intelligence on subjects involved in sale and supply of various products (for example age restricted products such as tobacco) continued throughout the period and will be used to influence future projects and investigation work.

Over the past six months, the Community Planning Partnership team has delivered a broad range of activities that supports residents, strengthens communities and contributes directly to Council’s strategic priorities.  The team continues to lead delivery of Locality Plan priorities in Auchinairn, Hillhead & Harestanes, Lennoxtown and Twechar, working closely with local communities and partners to ensure actions are responsive to local need.

Significant progress has been made in promoting equality, diversity, and inclusion.  The team played a leading role engaging our employees, residents and partners in the development of our Equality Outcomes for 2025-29, ensuring these reflect lived experience and local priorities.  Alongside this, coordination of delivery against the British Sign Language Plan 2024-30 has continued, supporting inclusive access to services and information.

Cultural and language initiatives have also been a strong focus.  A well-received Gaelic Harvest Festival was delivered at Mugdock Park, and East Dunbartonshire’s first community-led Gaelic Day was successfully facilitated in partnership with Bishopbriggs Gaelic Club.  Through ongoing collaboration with communities and partners, the team continues to progress actions within our Gaelic Language Plan.

The team delivers the council’s Community Grant Scheme, and manages the Strategic Partnership Agreements, while also supporting the promotion and delivery of the Winter Connection programme in conjunction with partners.  In partnership, they coordinate the Community First capacity building programme, which prioritises our four local place areas and communities of interest.  In addition, the successful wellness kitchen programme continues to be delivered, contributing to our shared ambition to reduce poverty and inequalities.

In partnership with colleagues, the team continues to work closely with community-controlled bodies to understand, explore and progress opportunities for community asset transfer, supporting communities to take greater ownership and stewardship of local assets in line with Council priorities.

The Community Planning Partnership Team continues to work effectively with partner agencies and communities to drive positive change, aligning with the Local Outcome Improvement Plan and council priorities, while maintain a strong focus on inclusion, prevention and community empowerment.

The Resettlement Team continues to provide high-quality humanitarian support using human-outcomes, and a case management approach aligned to the New Scots Strategy.  New Scots are supported to integrate into our communities from their first day of arrival through comprehensive, time-sensitive and person-centred support involving individuals, communities and community planning partners.  This includes partnership working to support Homes for Ukraine, Vulnerable Persons Resettlement, Asylum Dispersal, the Afghan Resettlement Programme and community sponsorship.  The team also plays a lead role in the development of strategies aligned to the 1951 UN Convention relation to the status of refugees, the European Convention on Human Rights and the Human Rights Act 1998.

The team is developing a series of community connection conversations to build understanding of refugees and people seeking asylum, supporting positive dialogue, reducing misconception and strengthening connections within our local communities.

In addition, the Resettlement Team works collaboratively with partners to support the successful delivery of community vaccination programmes, helping to protect public health and reach priority groups.

Housing manages 3,893 social rented properties; 3#,810 of these are mainstream accommodation and 83 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 3,336 applications - made up of the following:

General Waiting list  2,499 applicants waiting (3 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  608 applicants (5 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  241 applicants (7 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).

Community Protection Service 
(Environmental Health, Community Safety & Trading Standards)

• 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 and in line with relevant corporate outcomes to ensure that effective services are being delivered with positive performance being reported
• Delivery of regulatory services that assist with economic recovery and that are designed to support local businesses and communities
• Continued delivery of field responses in relation to all essential environmental health matters (e.g., public health service requests on environmental protection matters, food safety interventions and air quality monitoring)
• On-going delivery of full programmes of food safety inspection activity and food sampling activity as part of Official Food Controls, with several enforcement notices being issued to local businesses owing to food safety and hygiene issues across the reporting period
• Service involvement in several infectious disease questionnaires of residents in support of the local health protection board to trace any routes of infection
• Preparation and submission of the latest Annual Progress Report on standards of Air Quality within East Dunbartonshire
• Appropriate regulatory contribution to major asset projects and regulatory input to local planning developments
• Liaison with local water bodies and SEPA representatives during the reporting period to assist in seasonal blue-green algae toxic bloom work
• Delivery of a range of themed health and safety initiatives and interventions to local businesses across the area along with submission of the LAE1 Return to the Health & Safety Executive for health and safety work undertaken in the previous reporting period
• Provision of effective responses to a high number and diverse range of public health service requests throughout the course of the reporting period, with required for several ongoing statutory nuisance investigations of an intensive nature
• Approval of the EH Food Service Plan 2025-26 - this plan details the arrangements for carrying out the council’s statutory duties under food safety legislation during the current reporting year
• On-going implementation of the revised and extended animal welfare licensing system to meet the requirements of new Regulations
• Delivery of effective field responses in relation to all community safety matters (e.g., pest control, fly-tipping, antisocial behaviour and youth disorder, control of dogs and CCTV deployment)
• Continued development of effective and efficient service delivery in relation to all Decriminalised Parking Enforcement with delivery of targeted enforcement activity in priority areas
• Delivery of parking enforcement activity to support the traffic free schools’ pilot and all other school areas
• Completion of preparation for the commencement of pavement, double and dropped kerb parking enforcement under the Transport (Scotland) Act 2019 from 1 September
• Effective deployment of mobile CCTV cameras to prevent crimes and aid detection, with particular emphasis on jointly agreed deployment between East Dunbartonshire Council and Police Scotland
• Delivery of essential patrols in relation to environmental incivility breaches (particularly dog fouling and littering)
• Delivery of investigative work and general casework on all ASB and neighbour dispute matters to support safer local communities within East Dunbartonshire.
• Delivery of anti-social behaviour patrols at a range of hot spot locations across the neighbourhood with an increased visible presence across local communities
• Enforcement action taken in relation to several different cases relating to fly-tipping and dog control matters
• Appropriate referrals and outcomes for a range of young persons referred to the Early & Effective Intervention Group which is coordinated and chaired by the Community Safety Team
• Community Wardens attendance at local surgeries and community run events - these events provide residents and members of the public the opportunity to speak directly (in confidence) with members of the Community Safety Team to report concerns, issues that they may be experiencing in their communities
• Delivery of reactive service request work and targeted project work by the Trading Standards Team throughout the reporting period to maintain local compliance with consumer protection legislation, with specific consideration to age related sales, scam high pressure selling and home improvement sector activity
• Delivery of on-going workplan activity by Trading Standards to maintain local business compliance with legislative requirements relating to tobacco and nicotine vapour products
• Ongoing promotions of the East Dunbartonshire Trusted Trader scheme through relevant channels, with the aim of attracting further local traders to join the scheme

• Delivery of work by the Licensing Advisers in the Team to assess local compliance with licensing conditions and make representations at Licensing Boards. Provision of tailored advice to businesses requiring Public Entertainment Licences and/or amendments to liquor licences for the summer period

• Delivery of planned programmes of routine Trading Standards and Licensing inspection work to premises of greater risk

• Combined road policing and business engagement with emphasis on the compliance of businesses offering home improvement services whilst moving through the authority.

• Continued delivery of enforcement and prevention work on scam and doorstep crime issues focussing on the protection of our vulnerable and elderly populations from financial harm – including deployment of the co-production “Scam Van” and delivery of various sessions at local groups to promote awareness / scam prevention messaging

• Inspection and testing of all weighbridges within the East Dunbartonshire Council area in tandem with delivery of other targeted metrological work.

• Delivered a series of well-received Community First capacity-bulding programmes, tailored to meet specific community orgniasation needs
• Hosted a Gaelic Harvest Festival on 31 August 2025, attrcting wide participation and celebrating cultural heritage through music, sports and foraging activities
• Facilitated East Dunbartonshire first Gaelic Day, offering community-led opportunities for those aged 18 year and over to immerse themselves in the Gaelic language and develop language skills
• Delivered a wide reaching consultation on our Equaity Outcomes 2025-29
• Delivered summer pockets, places and prosperity programme in collaboration with communities and commntiy planning partners, controibuting to reducing poverty and inequalities
• Coordinated a serries of Wellness Kitchens in Hillhead, targeting young tenants, children and parents/carers to build skills, stregnthen social connections and support a whole-system approach
• Led the coordination of frontline works meetings, enabling shared leanring, good practie and a more joined-up approach to tackling poverty and inequalities
• Continued partnership working with the BSL community to deliver our priorities within the BSL plan 2024-30
• Worked with the VAWG strategic partnership to plan and prepare for 16 Days of Activism 2025
• Coordinated and delivered a programme of Equality Impact Assessment trianing sesisons
• Support the CLD strategic partnership to deliver the priorities within the extended CLD plan 2021-24
• Continued delivery of person-centred resttlement programme, supporting New Scots to integrate into communities form day one
• Working in collaboraiton with East Dunbartonshire Welcomes Refugess to support posiitve community sponsorship
• Partnered with Mears and MOD to support resettlement programmes, including asylum dispersal and the Afghan Resettlement Programme.

• The Estates team received 59 new Reports of anti-social behaviour during Q1 and Q2 and 42 open cases were resolved over this period
• 45 nominations from the Housing waiting list were sent to Registered Social Landlords operating in East Dunbartonshire to be considered for allocation to their housing stock 
• Over Q1 and Q2 Housing are averaging 98% on tenancies sustained for the first year of the tenancy.  This is indicative of the joined up approach with the rents team to engage with new tenants at an early stages of tenancy
• Ongoing regular attendance this month included Housing Liaison meetings where cases of relevance to Social Work, Community Safety and Police Scotland are discussed, MARAC meeting with other agencies, CPC MISE group to discuss Child Protection issues, Safe and Together forums,  2-weekly meetings of the Community Harm and Risk Meeting (CHARM) with Police Scotland, Community Protection, Trading Standards and Licensing and regular meetings with Legal Services regarding dispute over title deeds in the housing estate, NOP’s and other legal matters
• Half day training sessions at Macgregor House take place on a monthly basis to keep updated about each area of housing including Rents, Policy, Estates and Homelessness and are well attended
• Housing have continued and will continue to review processes and make changes to them where possible to allow for a more customer, person centred approach
• Participated in the new Steering Group to re-establish and implement new procedures for processing and issuing Tenant Recharges.

• 145 households made a homeless application during April 2025- September 2025

• 77 households were supported by the Homelessness Out of Hours Service

• 37 referrals to the Rent Deposit Guarantee Scheme for advice and 16 housed

• 112 homeless applicants were made an offer of settled accommodation.  None of which had been waiting longer than 3 years.

• 27 households were moved to temporary accommodation

• 9 households were placed within unsuitable accommodation (total of 31 nights).  No  breaches of the UAO however the Council is at immediate risk of breaches due to the numbers of homelessness nationally and demands for service. All placements were applicants who were not suitable for Rapid Access accommodation due to potential risk to others

• 40 households were provided with Prevention Advice

• 5 Households were given SIM cards as part of the Good Things Foundation referral scheme through officer working in partnership

• Introduction meeting took place with Blue Triangle and comprehensive project plan in place for the Rapid Housing Service which will open 5 January 2026

• The Council’s Landlord Registration Officer received; 121 new registrations, 303 renewals and 420 updates.  The council collected £41,172 Income

• Project 101 new office was set up.  Fire safety checks were carried out, intruder alarm to was fitted and Wi fi was fitted.  The young people part of the project were delighted with the premises which opened July.

• Address the immediate recruitment and retention pressures being faced in relevant areas of Community Protection, thus ensuring that statutory duties can be delivered on an on-going basis
• Provide on-going support to staff in relation to the implementation of any new systems being introduced corporately make sure that service delivery is running as effectively as possible

• Review Community Protection material for the Council website to ensure that all content is up to date, accurate, complete and in line with the citizen-centric approach

• Collate and coordinate the agreed actions of the approved Local Child Poverty Act Report

• Review Shared Prosperity funding programmes for 2025

• Update and refresh Community Grant Scheme workshop content

• Provide ongoing support to staff in relation to the implementation of new internal systems and implementations of national strategies and revised legislation

• Attendance at new 2-weekly Community Harm and Risk Meeting (CHARM) with Police Scotland, Community Safety, Trading Standards and Licensing officers continues. Attendance at East Dunbartonshire Safe and Together steering group is ongoing

• Hold monthly budget meetings with HRA accountant to monitor costs

• Weekly meetings with Void Team at Property Maintenance to focus on improving performance

• Monthly attendance at new Housing/Social Work liaison meeting to discuss Throughcare cases and Unaccompanied Asylum Seeking Children

• Ensuring all ASB cases are appropriately actioned, with partners.

• Ensuring turn around times on void properties falls and offers are progressed timely with applicants on these properties. 

Throughout the six month period April to September 2025, the Customer Services Team assisted customers across digital, telephone and face to face channels, aiming to respond effectively to enquiries at first point of contact and liaising with other Council services in more complex  situations. 
Community Hub opening hours were changed in April with Lennoxtown, Bishopbriggs and Bearsden opening two afternoons per week, Kirkintilloch being the busiest hub remains open five afternoons per week. The adjusted hub opening hours enabled more flexibility in assigning customer service agents to respond to enquiries via the phone which remains the channel of choice for customers. 

The Customer Service team provided information and support to residents through the changes to their general waste collection schedule which moved to a three weekly uplift cycle. The process for customers to purchase garden bin permits was greatly improved this year with in-line payment configuration, the team continued to provide assistance to residents who were unable to make this purchase online themselves. 

During this six-month reporting period, the team handled 57,508 calls to the main 0300 123 4510 phone number as well as 9,296 social work calls, they handled 802 face to face appointments and 4,301 face to face drop-ins to the community hubs. The team has received very positive customer feedback for the quality of service they provided; this feedback is most welcome and enables the team to continually improve. 

The Emergency Response Centre continued to operate 24/7, responding to community alarm activations in both East and West Dunbartonshire, working closely with social work telecare teams to ensure community alarm service users are provided with the appropriate support to enable continued independent living. The ERC team also handle out of hours calls where a response to urgent and emergency situations is required.   The team provided support and and assistance to the civil contigencies team when a fire in a former school forced the evacuation of nearby residents, including supporting the standing up of a rest centre through the night. 

The team continued to deliver reception services in the various Council facilities where space is leased to local organisations and businesses. 

The Emergency Response Team progressed through a variety of tasks associated with the analogue to digital telephone change, preparing for the replacement of analogue equipment in the sheltered housing complexes across East Dunbartonshire. Equipment will be replaced with fully digital units to ensure community alarms continue to work when the nationwide digital switchover is completed in January 2027. 

The CCTV replacement project has faced technical challenges, it is anticipated that progress will be made once these various issues are resolved. The delay has impacted the number of requests for footage that can be fulfilled. 
Throughout this period the team continued to build on the expertise and development of the primary digital systems introduced to the service in October 2024, the community alarm digital call handling platform Chubb Sky Response and the Customer Relationship Management system (CRM) Citizen Hub. Across the team, agents have undertaken testing, data admin tasks, training, sharing knowledge and experience.  The team will continue to provide support and assistance as required in further development of these systems.

Communications & Engagement

Proactive and reactive media relations remained consistent each month with photocalls organised, press releases issued and media enquiries dealt with.
Social media continued to grow with followers on Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn all increasing. The most popular posts in terms of reach were the BMX track upgrade in Bearsden, Storm Floris warning information, affordable housing in Twechar, and the launch of the bin schedule tool.

The Council website had 1,143,563 views (external traffic only) in this time, with the most popular page Bins and Recycling receiving 115,521 views. The bin tool that was launched in May 2025 has been used 17,934 times (external traffic only).

Three hundred and twelve design jobs were completed overall.

In the first half of the 2025/26 reporting period the Corporate Performance and Research team has continued to fulfil required duties in relation to reporting of performance and provision of service level data returns across the Council and Health & Social Care Partnership. The team also continued to provide statistical and research support across the Council and to the Community Planning Partnership.

Other key areas of work include continuing to ensure the Council has adequate insurance arrangements in place, providing advice and support in relation to insurance related queries and acting as a point of escalation in regards to any claims.  All business-as-usual work was completed within agreed timescales.
 
The team also facilitate complaints handling at a corporate level, coordinating responses to complaints across all service areas, ensuring they are addressed appropriately, and adequate responses are provided in line with the statutory framework for complaints handling set out by the SPSO.

The Human Resources & Organisational Development service leads on TU engagement with weekly Joint Negotiating Group (JNG) meetings with the core TUs and regular engagement with the Teaching TUs. The team also support the monthly Strategic Negotiating Group (SRG) led by the Chief Executive. 

During the first two quarters of 2025/26, HR&OD continued to support employees and managers on HR policies and processes, providing support, advice and guidance on employee relations case work. 

Following the monthly pay pilot of around 150 employees, the Council successfully harmonised the various Local Government Workforce payroll over to one monthly payrun in April 2025, as part of the planned preparatory work in support of the HR/Payroll system. 

The payroll team has also effectively processed the range of payruns for the Council and EDLC Trust within required timescales, processing overtime and standby returns and completing statutory reports and carried out preparations for the annual pension return. Engagement with TUs on the Overtime process, which has resulted in a more efficient process for payment, ensuring a timelier payment for any overtime or allowances worked.

The People Development team has continued to deliver online and face to face training sessions across the workforce on a wide range of topics from induction to key Council policies as well as co-ordinating statutory training across key service areas. Work has also continued on the further development of content for the Moodle e-learning platform including HR Policy based training.

A particular focus for the Service in 2025/26 has been the replacement of the HR and payroll system iTrent which is being moved to Oracle Fusion HCM (HR and payroll) platform. Teams across HR and Payroll continue to undertake series of milestones and output in relation to design, development and testing of the new system required as part of the HCM project, whilst managing business as usual operational work. 

The Job Evaluation team, has worked with services across the Council to carry out JE interviews and role profile reviews, and Teachers Job Sizing.

Communications & Engagement

• Involvement in the Mugdock Park Walled Garden project with attendance at concept meetings, design creation and illustration and final artwork completed for the fence panels and gate
• Co-ordinated communications for the Twechar Outdoor Pursuits Centre including construction completion photocall, media release, video, social media and website updates and organisation of the official opening by the Provost
• Co-ordination of the Provost’s Community Champion Awards with nomination photocall, media release and social media, organisation of judging and prizes, and communications on each winner including prize giving events, photography, media release, social media and website updates
• Pavement parking enforcement communications including posters, media release, social media, website updates and Customer Services telephone message
• Delivered communications announcing the return of the Gruffalo trail at Kilmardinny Loch with photocall, media release, video, social media and website update
• Began work on the intranet replacement project with options paper, intranet audit, content updates and manual migration from the Hub to Employee Zone.

• Year-end HGIOS reports for 2024/25 and Business Improvement Plans were agreed at the June meeting of Council and published on the Council website
• The Council’s Annual Complaints handling report was also agreed at Council in June 2025 and published on the Council website
• The Successful annual renewal of the Council’s insurance arrangements
• Improved recording of complaints on the CRM has enabled more comprehensive complaints handling reports to be issued to senior management on a quarterly basis from Q1 25/26 onwards
• Improved officer guidance for complaints handling was developed for publication and distribution in Q3 25/26
• Our performance Framework was updated to include the revised statutory direction and timescales for 25/26 performance reporting
• Audit Scotland highlighted the Performance pages of the Council website as best practice in supplementary guidance published around meeting the requirements of the new statutory direction
• Monthly HGIOS reports and regular case studies continued to be published on the Council website assisting with our Public Performance Reporting requirements
• Publication of the Annual LGBF Benchmarking report which was approved by Council in Q2
• Support provided to the Business & Digital Change team in relation to the continued rollout of Oracle fusion
• An innovative infographic approach was developed for publication of child protection data
• All annual data returns were completed and submitted to the Scottish Government within target timescales.

• The customer service team handled 57,508 calls to the main 0300 123 4510 number in this period and 9,296 social work calls
• The emergency response team supported 4,958 Community Alarm Care customers to live independently at home in East Dunbartonshire and West Dunbartonshire Council areas handling a total of 106,282 alarm activation over this 6 month period
• The emergency response centre team also handled 3,012 out of hours calls for urgent and emergency situations
• The emergency response centre team continue to support the analogue to digital transition project including the replacement of analogue equipment in the sheltered housing complexes across East Dunbartonshire
• Continue building expertise and knowledge of functionality of the new CRM and community alarm call handling platform, provide support for the ongoing development of these systems
• All team members undertake regular training and refresher training to ensure they are able to deliver all services and are fully up to date with service changes
• Reception services were also delivered across Council business facilities leased to tenants.

• Payroll Harmonisation project in preparation for the new HR/payroll system

• Continued engagement with the Trade Unions on strategic and operation HR initiatives, including service reviews and arising matters

• Establishment of meetings and timescales with TUs to focus on employment policy matters including updating core policies and new policy development

• In conjunction with Executive Officers and their management teams, developed portfolio-level Workforce Action Plans in line with the Workforce Strategy and support progression of these

• Research and Launch of Equally Safe at Work initiative across the organisation

• Support the organisation and delivery of the Council’s Leadership Forum to bring managers and team leaders together to share key organisational priorities and developments 

• Continued delivery of required courses online and face to face across a wide range of topics to meet organisational need by the People Development team

• Significant resource allocated to the development and implementation across organisation of the new Oracle HCM replacement HR & Payroll system project.

• Providing further guidance and support around the adoption of best practice Child Friendly Complaints handling principles
• Further development of training and support materials for officers around complaints handling
• Further embedding the revised and streamlined PDR process to support wider recording of performance and development conversations across the workforce.

Education

The Education Service has made very good progress against priorities in the Business and Improvement Plan (BIP) 2025–2028 over the six-month period. 

Throughout the period, progress against the BIP has been regularly reviewed and reported, keeping a strong focus on excellence, equity and continuous improvement.

Across the year, planning, self-evaluation and targeted support have continued to drive improvement in learning, teaching, attainment and wellbeing.

Quality Improvement Officers (QIOs) reviewed and moderated Standards and Quality Reports and School and Centre Improvement Plans, ensuring clear, evidence-based priorities at establishment and authority level.

All schools and Early Years Centres received focused support and challenge visits from QIOs, enabling them to review data, agree next steps and identify targeted support to secure improvement. SQA attainment reviews were completed with every secondary school. 

Early analysis of SQA results indicated that overall performance in East Dunbartonshire remained strong. For Highers, the overall pass rate was 82%, and for Advanced Higher the figure was 78%. Skills Development Scotland (SDS) has worked closely with the authority to ensure that high proportions of leavers move into positive destinations including education, training and employment. 

Annual Child Protection Training was delivered to all staff, with evaluations confirming that staff are confident in their safeguarding responsibilities and procedures.

Over the six months, the Education Leadership Team (ELT) and central officers have maintained a strong focus on strategic planning and improvement. Strategic planning for 2025–2028 was finalised, including the Standards and Quality Report (SQR), Education Service Plan (ESP), and Early Years Strategic Plan (EYSP) 2025 – 2028.  Several reports were also prepared and shared with Education Committee. 
 
To drive forward continuous improvement, the ELT consulted with central officers and headteachers to design a new improvement strategy (IMAGINE). Building on existing strengths, this new improvement strategy is providing a structured framework with streamlined approaches to supporting continual improvement. In addition, it is ensuring ongoing developments within education and outcomes from continuous self-evaluation are effectively integrated into establishments across the Education Service.

The comprehensive IMAGINE Strategy spans Early Years and Childcare, Primary and Secondary Education, including Skills for Learning, Life and Work. It is supported by seven key strategic priorities: leadership, learning and teaching, tracking and monitoring, curriculum, partnerships, wellbeing and inclusion and skills for life, learning and work. There is a focus on working together as a close team, to collectively lead more effectively, ensuring all our children and young people meet their full potential in education and beyond. 

Almost all probationers successfully completed practitioner enquiries and shared their learning at a central event, and six Depute Head Teachers across primary and secondary sectors successfully completed the Into Headship qualification.

HM Inspectors visited Mosshead Primary School, identifying key strengths in learning, teaching and assessment, high levels of pupil motivation and engagement, and strong support from staff in sustaining high attainment and closing gaps in learning. Quality Indicators 2.3 (Learning, Teaching and Assessment) and 3.2 (Raising Attainment and Achievement) were both evaluated as being very good.

Across the six months, schools and early years centres have achieved a wide range of national awards and recognition. Milngavie Primary School received the Music Education Partnership Scotland Music Education Award, recognising their commitment to encouraging all children to participate in and learn through music.

Further examples of awards are as follows: the Primary Wellbeing Support Service achieved the Royal Horticultural Society Level 4 Gardening Award; Westerton Primary School achieved the Gold Reading Schools Award; the Secondary Wellbeing Support Service received the Bronze Rights Respecting School Award; and Oxgang Primary School secured the Silver Sportscotland Award.

Millersneuk Primary School achieved their Gold Rights Respecting School Award and Meadowburn Gaelic Nursery achieved their Bronze Rights Respecting School Award, both in recognition of their work to promote children’s rights. Craigdhu Primary School was highlighted as a national case study of good practice in Rights Respecting Schools, with their work shared widely across the UK.

Primary 6 pupils from Baljaffray Primary represented East Dunbartonshire Council at the Euroquiz Finals in Edinburgh.

Across all schools, there has been a sustained focus on professional learning, leadership and workforce development. Five teachers received GTCS Professional Recognition for their professional learning and practice in Reading Recovery.

Twelve teachers (eight primary and four secondary) participated in high-level professional learning programmes focused on improving learning, teaching and assessment across all curricular areas. Ninety-seven probationers accepted places on the Teacher Induction Scheme within the authority and engaged in a structured programme of central Professional Learning sessions.

Almost all schools have submitted offers to support students on placement, maintaining a strong commitment to initial teacher education and mentoring. A cross-sector Leadership Strategic Group, supported by Human Resources, has continued work to develop a new Leadership Strategy for all leaders in schools, ensuring a coherent and progressive approach to leadership pathways.

Across Early Years, Primary, Secondary and Supporting Families, there has been sustained work to strengthen inclusive practice, family engagement and early intervention. The Quality Improvement Team analysed and moderated Standards and Quality Reports for Early Years, Primary and Secondary.  This had a focus on ensuring that strengths and areas for development were robustly identified across all sectors with appropriate Professional Learning in place.

Evaluations from family learning programmes, including nurture-based projects, showed positive impact, with feedback and next steps shared with Head Teachers. 

All schools delivered training on Inclusive Practice and CIRCLE, with follow-up sessions in each school to embed strategies into classrooms. 

Two hundred and forty-nine children attended Snack and Play over the summer holidays, with feedback indicating that children valued both the activities on offer and the opportunity to meet new friends. The Supporting Families Team continued to receive a high level of referrals and were providing high-quality, bespoke support to 48 parents.

Following a successful pilot, the “Being Me, Under 3” programme was made available to all Early Years Centres and funded providers. Locality Partnership Groups brought together Early Years staff and partners to explore IMAGINE priorities and share practice.

Primary and secondary schools engaged in a wide range of literacy, numeracy and STEM events, including virtual engineering events for primary girls, large-scale literacy events for Primary 6 pupils, and collaboration events for secondary head teachers on supporting young people with Additional Support Needs.

All Early Years Centres are now using the enhanced transition report for children with significant ASN. This was highly evaluated by specialist provision and early years centres in supporting smooth transitions for children moving into Primary 1. 
There was also the pilot with 6 centres to replace the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaires (SDQ) with a strengthened early years transition report and foundation skills overview. This is currently being evaluated but all centres feedback is positive with reflection on more appropriate language and simple to complete.

The Whole Family Wellbeing (WFW) Team has continued to play a key role in supporting children and families. Over the six-month period, 96 children and Young People were supported through Whole Family Wellbeing Team activities. A further 376 children, young people or family members have participated in third supports funded through Whole Family Wellbeing 3rd sector grants. The support has been extended to Lennoxtown and all Kirkintilloch and St Ninian’s cluster schools.

One hundred and five young people participated in outdoor education, football, Manga, Pupil Drop in and other wellbeing groupwork activities; some who had rarely attended school engaged consistently with these programmes. Regular coffee mornings for parents and carers provided informal opportunities for support, advice, guidance and signposting.
WFW Fund projects continued to support holistic, preventative approaches to family support, with school-based social workers appointed in key clusters an additional youth development worker and local area co-ordinator have been appointed. 

All schools engaged with implementation of the CIRCLE Framework, and local authority training supported staff to embed inclusive practice. The WFWF Training Subgroup reviewed practitioner feedback and introduced Multi-Agency Professional Learning communities for practitioners completing Talking Mats and Sleep training.

The playscheme at Woodland View took place over three weeks offering a range of activities including Beat Buddies, Creative Sparks and Operational Play, supporting communication, emotional regulation and social interaction for children with ASN. The ASN Central Team maintained the Named Person service, ensuring that child plans and family information were up to date and appropriately shared.

Child protection and safeguarding training was updated and rolled out to multi-agency staff, with well-attended drop-in sessions for school staff. Mentors in Violence Prevention (MVP) training was delivered in secondary schools, and pupils and staff took part in regional events on tackling gender-based violence.

Young Carers ID card pilots were introduced in four secondary schools and associated primary and ASN sectors, working with Carerslink, Education Scotland and Carers Trust. ASN Leads across schools engaged in regular forums to share practice and receive updates on service developments and Whole Family Wellbeing initiatives.

The Education Service has maintained a strong commitment to Rights Respecting Schools, with further establishments gaining silver and gold awards.

The Education Psychology Service (EPS) has continued to provide strong support to schools, early years centres and multi-agency partners. The Non-Violent Resistance (NVR) Strategic Group reviewed audit findings and continued to plan for the next phase of training, with Level 3 and 4A courses delivered to multi-agency practitioners.

Sixteen multi-agency staff undertook preparation for further NVR work, and additional staff were trained in Talking Mats, with evaluations planned. The Nurture Evaluation Report 2024–2025 was presented to Education Committee, summarising three years of nurture work across primary and secondary.

Work on the authority Dyslexia Strategy and associated guidance progressed, with draft materials produced and consultation planned with children, parents and staff. CIRCLE and “Up, Up and Away!” programmes have been implemented across Early Years, Primary and Secondary, with establishments asked to develop implementation plans from their self-evaluation.

EPS staff contributed to the ASN Leadership Forum and authority working groups on trauma-informed practice, helping to shape training and support for schools. SHINE authority-level reports have been received, and schools are planning interventions to address mental health and wellbeing based on this data.

Consultation on revised Dyslexia Guidance began with children, parents and staff, ensuring it reflects local needs and national expectations.

Significant progress has been made on major school estate projects and wider planning for improvement. The Lenzie Academy new build project has continued to develop, with statutory consultation completed and reports being prepared for Council. Engagement with staff, pupils, parents and the wider community has informed the design and layout of the new building and .

Bearsden Primary School’s project progressed to completion, with workscampus finished before the end of session and snagging undertaken during the summer.

Planning for the rebuilding of Balmuildy Primary has continued, including design work, approval of plans and preparation for summer works while the school building is closed.  The new build begun in August 2025 and is progressing well within the timescales.

Milngavie Primary successfully decanted to St Nicholas Primary and Torrance Primary. Works are progressing very well on the refurbishment, progressing well with the expected return for all pupils for the start of session in August 2026.

Workforce planning and recruitment have taken place to ensure appropriate staffing across all schools. The School Planning and Improvement Team has continued to support Education Committee reporting, the Placing Request Appeal Board and long-term role projection work across the school estate.

Development and planning for the introduction of 21 hours class contact time for teachers is progressing.

There has been continued focus on supporting skills development, tackling child poverty and extending employability pathways. Performance monitoring has been ongoing through the Local Employability Partnership.
 
Recruitment for the two phases of the Parental Employment Programme has taken place, supported by the Scottish Government’s Tackling Child Poverty strategy and funding. This programme is already achieving success in supporting on low income parents access good-quality sustainable employment and supporting workforce planning in Early years and Support for Learning. 

Recruitment for Phase 11 of the Modern Apprenticeship programme has been carried out, with posts offered across services including Plumbing, Building Standards, Roads, Streetscene and Early Years.

A range of adult learning opportunities have been offered through the Learning Matters programme. Over twenty adults have started a National 5 Numeracy qualification and are on course to complete next year.

Youth Services, in partnership with external partners, have supported young people and young carers to access high-quality experiences and events, including music and cultural activities.

Work with Young Scot has promoted the National Entitlement Card and other youth entitlements, ensuring young people are aware of and can benefit from available opportunities. Alongside this, the Skills Pathway Programme 2025 was planned and delivered, providing young people with insights into sector-specific career pathways and professional standards required within those sectors.

The Education Service continues to work on the priorities as outlined in the Education Service Plan (ESP) 2025 - 2028.  These are evaluated monthly and key progress reports are shared in the HGIOS Monthly Reports.

The 2024/25 audit began during the summer and was conducted by Wbg (Audit) Limited for the third year. Although the audit was largely concluded by September, the final sign off will go forward to the AGM in October.

Allander awards – The Allander Leisure Centre has been recognised for setting a “benchmark for modern, inclusive public architecture” at the prestigious Civic Trust Awards.

The Allander project – which was built by East Dunbartonshire Council, with architectural design by Holmes Miller – won a Selwyn Goldsmith Award for Universal Design and was also “Highly Commended” overall.

A review of administrative functions across the Trust began this summer in partnership with HR and Trade Unions. The purpose of this review is to highlight any major risks, gaps in service and areas for improvement. 

Leisure Centres

Lifesaving

The EDLCT working group continues to investigate continuous improvement in the form of lifeguarding. Between the three Leisure Centres we have delivered five courses between April and September qualifying another 57 lifeguards in the local area.

Free “Save a life sessions” were also introduced by the Allander team and have now been delivered across all sites. Each session has been fully subscribed providing lifesaving skills to the local community.

Tennis

A promotion driven in conjunction with Wimbledon proved again to be popular and income exceeded target.

DD membership

After a slow start to the financial year the overall DD membership at the end of period six is trending ahead of target. Generating £1,852,716 (£1,505,626 last year) in BACS payments alone.

Facilities Management

• The teaching and leisure pool covers were replaced in June. The previous covers had exceeded their useful life and were replaced without any disruption to public use
• The glass pyramid and flat roof section above Charlie’s Big Adventure Soft Play has been leaking water. Mastic was applied around the glass frame to try and prevent further water seeping through
• New graphics were installed at the beginning of April to promote the use of CBA Soft Play. The graphics were located outside the entrance to Happy Days nursery with the intention to be noticeable to young families as they enter the building.

Huntershill Sports Hub

• The SuperTeams Primary School athletics competition took place at Huntershill Sports Hub with 15 schools participating in a range of events such as the long jump, shot-put and relay races. 134 pupils took part on the day with Wester Cleddens PS claiming the SuperTeams trophy. The event was run in partnership with Springburn Harriers Athletics Club. The strong links between our Active Schools team and community sports clubs such as Springburn Harriers continues to create effective pathways from school participation to involvement in local community clubs
• The Active Schools team recently hosted a 4-day Dance Leaders training course for pupils from East Dunbartonshire secondary schools as part of their Young Leader training programme. The training aims to upskill these pupils in their delivery of dance and to help them develop their leadership skills. The pupils who attended now have their SCQG Level 4 in Dance Leadership qualification and will go on to deliver dance sessions in their own secondary schools and cluster primary schools.

Leisuredrome

• Big Bobble Triathlon Sunday 27th April. Over 200 participants
• Bishopbriggs Acro Gymnastics held their large annual event in the main hall on Sunday 22nd June. There were over 150 gymnasts performing with just under 400 people attending the show
• The Leisuredrome hosted National Fitness Day on 24th September 2025. 
  Free swimming, badminton, pickleball and group fitness classes were made available to EDLCT members and our wider communities. The activities were enjoyed by many and the feedback from participants was very positive. Having started back in 2011, National Fitness Day has seen millions get involved each year and while bringing people together through physical activity has a hugely positive impact, the campaign has evolved to encourage everyone to view this day as just one step in a much bigger journey. Last year this was evidence when we achieve 70 new memberships on the day but on this occasion the number of new sign ups were low. However, the main hall participation was exceptional attracting many new customers to the likes of pickleball and badminton
• Springburn Harriers hosted the Canal Canter on Wednesday 20th August with over 150 participants.

Group Fitness 

Group Fitness continues to see a growth in attendances with a significant demand for Mind & Body classes (Wellness). EDLCT has added Re-train Pain Pilates + Chair based Yoga classes therefore bringing these classes to a wider demographic reaching more vulnerable user groups. Older adults attending weekday dance type fitness classes has exceeded expectation as we see this user group in EDLCT becoming increasingly more active.

Vitality Classes

EDLCT deliver 14 Vitality classes each week across 4 venues to a variety of members and NHS patients living with long term conditions. The high demand for this programme has prompted a widespread NHS GGC review to ensure we can meet future demand.

This demand for these classes continues, providing both exercise and social benefits growing by 23% on last year.

Live Active Membership has started to plateau.

Staffing

Kirkintilloch has experienced challenges in staffing recruitment across all areas of business operations, including sports Pavilions. Casual cover has had to be used frequently to cover essential front-line staff. There have also been a number of long-term sickness absences among front liners which has exacerbated the situation, despite the application of the attendance management and staff support procedures. Towards the end of Quarter 2 several recruitment processes were progressed to help address some of the staffing issues. 

Centre staff saved a customer’s life following a serious incident when they experienced a seizure in the sauna, became unconscious and stopped breathing. Prompt emergency action and CPR practices based on their training enabled staff to bring the person round and pass them on safely to paramedics who had been called to site by Reception staff, again as part of the emergency action plan. The staff involved were supported initially by the Operations Manager and subsequently the Trust General Manager and thanked for their prompt action.

Facilities

Kirkintilloch continues to age closer to its original shelf life of twenty years and this brings more issues to the fore despite a regular planned annual programme of servicing, maintenance and associated repairs. More frequently components and fabric are becoming beyond use. This puts extreme pressure on property budgets already under stress from rising costs.

To address some major outstanding issues, working in partnership with the Council, major repairs to the external roofing of the pool hall and frontage of the building were undertaken. The original scope of these works had to be extended to deal with areas of the main roof covering which again was 19 years into a 20-year lifecycle.

On completion of these works the Centre’s kerb appeal has been enhanced with a fresh external appearance and new building signage. Further improvement works are being agreed with the Council to alleviate flooding issues in the disability parking bays after heavy rainfall which is more commonplace now. 

Quarter 2 usage was 9% higher than for the same quarter in 2024/25, with the Gym showing a 13% comparative increase. Overall Centre income was also up 13.5% on the same period of last year and continued to be ahead of target projection.

Areas of Improvement

Further works are required in terms of building sustainability, including works in the upper plant room on pump equipment.

A focus will continue on growing the already impressive Gym DD and pay as you go income which is a mainstay of the Centre’s success. 

Staffing

This continues to be a challenge to recruit and recruit in a timely manner. 
There have been vacancies for Cleaners, Lifeguards and Pavilion attendants and this has been taken up by casual staff who are greatly valued but the Centre requires experienced staff to be able to deliver a quality service within a very busy facility.

Facilities

Due to the unseasonably hot and dry weather during the initial months the footfall was slightly down, as was income. There was a significant bounce back in Period 3 with usage up by 21% on the previous year. Over the course of the Summer the record-breaking hot spells created problems with the Games Hall and portable fans were introduced into the area.

Membership has increased by nearly 6% over the first 6 months of the year and still proving popular with those 16 years and under. During September: Gym attendances for 12-15 years achieved 3,232 visits. Friday evening proved to be hugely popular and long waiting times were a result. Sessions of 50 minutes were created to help alleviate the issue. Ensuring numbers were manageable and there was no wait time.  

The sauna/steam area still provides significant revenue each period. Averaging nearly £10,000 per period. This still provides some challenges and there are further requests for female only sessions.

Areas of Improvement

Deep Clean programme in the Changing Village cut to 4 weeks rather than 7 weeks. This has made an impact on the presentation within this heavily used area. The Centre now has a variety of cleaning machines to assist staff with the cleaning and presentation of the facility.

Early Bird Promotion

Due to the ever-increasing booking demand, the centre has advertised early morning slots at half price. In the first 6 weeks of the promotion 57 bookings were made before 9am.

Sunday Evening Football

The football pitches were struggling to attract Sunday evening games. This has been promoted at half price and managed to gain 12 booking in the first six weeks of the promotion.

Mobile App

The mobile app is also being used to alert customers of late court availability. This proved successful when 9 of the available 13 spaces were booked up after one announcement that went out via the mobile app.

The Rise of Pickleball

The popularity of Pickleball cannot be understated, it has found a gap in the market that offers both a competitive outlet, mixed with social interaction for those that have previously played Squash, Tennis or Badminton or given these sports up due to the physical demands. Pickleball income has increased by 400% since opening. 

Pickleball v Badminton income since April 2023 shown in graph below.

Footfall in branches is showing strong growth, up by 8% on the same period last year. Digital usage is up by just under 1% on the same period last year, showing a slowing down of growth in this area, which may suggest digital usage is now reaching a plateau, following very strong growth in recent years. Overall usage for the 6-month period is up by 3% on the same period last year. 

Libraries

• Libraries commemorated the 80th Anniversary of VE DAY with a series of events across all libraries, which included VE Day Tea parties and a talk, at William Patrick Library, on the German air crash in the Campsie Fells, which 

• The library service in partnership with East Dunbartonshire HSCP, launched the Health Information Hubs initiative, with a photocall at William Patrick Library.  The event, which was attended by Councillor Calum Smith - Chair of EDHSCP, Connie Williamson – Health Improvement Lead HSCP, Alan Wright – Chair of EDLCT Board and Karin Jackson – General Manager EDLCT, marks the start of this new initiative which will provide information for library users about managing illness and supporting wellbeing.

• Conversation Cafés were introduced at Bishopbriggs Library. The Cafés aim to support people with a first Language other than English, to learn English in an enjoyable, friendly setting.  The Cafés will benefit participants in many ways, including learning about the area in which they live, meeting new people and improving confidence in using English in speaking, writing, reading and listening

• The Summer Reading Challenge concluded with 1,018 children signing up to join the challenge, with the theme “Story Garden”. 529 children completed the challenge by borrowing and reading 6 books or more over the school Summer holiday period. 

Heritage and Arts

Museum usage is showing strong growth in both visits in person and digital access, when compared with the same period last year. Visits in person have increase by 7% while digital access has increased by 23%.  The considerable increase in digital usage can be largely attributed to increased engagement with the online collections catalogue. Overall usage for the six-month period is up by 18% on the same period last year. 

• Over Q1 and Q2, there has been a 23% increase in digital use in comparison to 24/25.  This can be attributed to a targeted approach to promoting engagement with the EDLCT online collections catalogue and improved use of social media. During this period, the catalogue received 2,844 visitors compared to 1,895 visitors during the same period in 24/25. Collection posts on Facebook received 464 interactions during Q1 and Q2 for 2025/26 compared with just 62 for the same period in 2024/25

• A partnership agreement was signed with the genealogy provider Ancestry.com to digitise a selection of East Dunbartonshire Council archive collections, making these freely available to a global market.  Collections made available include; poor relief, burial, and school registers from the 1840s to the 1920s. This new agreement provides free public access to Ancestry online in all public libraries in East Dunbartonshire and will increase digital access. 

• The Lillie Art Gallery hosted a live theatre performance of “Pat Douthwaite Alive and Kicking” by Heroica Theatre Company. Pat Douthwaite (1934 – 2002) was a painter who created dramatic and often confrontational art works, one of which is held in the Lillie Collections and was displayed as part of the backdrop to the performance, which was a first for the gallery

• 750 visitors attended events across 17 venues which took part in this year’s Doors Open Day.  This year proved to be so popular that some venues remained open for longer that publicised.  Visitor feedback was incredibly positive, with many people discovering venues for the first time. Staff and volunteers commented on how fantastic it was to be involved in the events and activities.  This year saw an increase of 129% in visitors, compared with last year.

The restructure of the Active Schools and Community Sport Team has provided increased opportunities for partnership working across both teams. Bi-monthly ASCS team meetings allow the sharing of good practice, joint training, development of locality-based projects and improved pathways for participation from schools to community sessions.

Key achievements have been:

• Whole Family Wellbeing Fund- awarded £13k to provide Community Sport sessions for children and young people with additional support needs, both in Woodland View and across the mainstream schools ELRs and Nurture Units
• Improved digital profile- launch of the ASCS newsletter which replaced the old mailing list process for Community Sport, along with the creation of the ASCS webpages and improvement of existing webpages for both Community Sport and Active Schools.
• Locality working- a move to a locality model where the teams adapt their working depending on the needs of the local community. This was a significant change for the Community Sport Team, and they have adapted well.

The number of members taking part in weekly classes has reduced slightly compared to the same time period in 2024. This decrease can be attributed to long term employee absence which resulted in the cancellation of a significant number of classes from April- September 2025

The team have been working to recruit additional coaches to allow more scope within the programme to cover session when employees are on long term absence. This is particularly challenging for the Aquatics Team due to a lack of qualified swimming teachers within the local area and nationally. 

• Easter Programme

  The team delivered a 2-week Easter programme during the holidays, with 450 participants enjoying activities across the EDLCT Leisure centres.  Full week camps were delivered in Football, Multi Sports and Gymnastics along with half day football and netball camps and swimming crash courses.  All Easter activities were booked through the new online booking site which was launched in March 2025

• Summer Programme

  The Community Sport team ran a successful summer programme across the Allander, Leisuredrome and Kirkintilloch Leisure Centres, as well as Huntershill Sports Hub. The seven-week programme provided opportunity for approximately 1200 children and young people to access camps in Swimming, Gymnastics, Football and Multisports. A feedback survey has been issued to all parents/carers who participated, and the feedback will help shape the development of future holiday sports camps

• Secondary School Gymnastics Competition

  This year we saw 96 participants take part in our annual schools competition in Kirkintilloch sports centre.  All secondary schools within East Dunbartonshire took part, the competition seen pupils from S1 -S3 compete in floor and vault with overall winners being pupils from Bishopbriggs academy.  Next year we look to include different pieces of apparatus such as beam and bars.  We also had 14 pupils from Woodland View attend a gymnastics session on the back of the competition to give them an introduction to floor, beam, bars and vault.  Well done to all pupils that took part

• Coaches Code of Practice 

  Review of the Community Sport Coaching Procedures and creation of Coach Code of Practice, with Child Protection and Wellbeing at the centre of the document. The new document will improve communication with coaches, lay out a clear expectations on conduct as well as managerial support. The document is in draft form, but will be confirmed and launched in January 2026.

MySport Data

The team successfully completed the return for Term 3 and full year data in June. The final data will be released by sportscotland at the end of July, and the Active School Annual Review will be submitted in September. The initial data can be reported:

The data shows a small decrease in distinct participant figures for the full year compared to 2023-24, however the percentage of school participating is unchanged, with an increase of over 500 sessions. Any decrease is a direct result of the 1.5FTE vacancies the team carried from December until the end the academic year. The decrease of 7 deliverers comparted to 2023-24 is also a positive result for the team considering the impact of staff vacancies.

• Bearsden & Milngavie Primary Schools Athletics Championships

  Eleven primary schools attended the Bearsden and Milngavie Athletics Championships, at Bearsden Academy in June this year. 264 pupils took part in the event which included 60 metre sprints, 600 metres, standing long jump, shot putt and 4 x 200 metre relay heats. 
  
  The Active Schools team were assisted throughout the day by 14 secondary school pupils from Bearsden Academy

• East Dunbartonshire Secondary Schools Track and Field Championships

  Our secondary schools track and field championships took place at Huntershill Sports Hub on Tuesday 10th June. The event was organised and run in partnership between Active schools and Springburn Harriers Running and Athletics Club. All secondary schools participated in this year’s competition which was open to S1-3 pupils. A total of 384 pupils took part in a range of running, throwing and jumping events. Medals were awarded to the top 3 male and female athletes in each discipline and Lenzie Academy went home with the trophy for the overall winning school.

• Young Leader Mini-Fit training

  In July the Active Schools team organised and delivered a mini-fit training course at Milngavie Town Hall. 14 pupils attended representing four different schools. The course provides the pupils with basic skills around the fundamentals of coaching children, and selection of fun games to deliver. The pupils, supported by their Active Schools Coordinator and school staff, will now use this training to deliver fun sessions in their cluster primary schools

• Lennoxtown Summer Dance Sessions

  In partnership with Scottish Youth Dance, and EDLCT’s Cultural services, the AS team provided a fun week of dance for children within Lennoxtown. These fully funded sessions allowed 14 children from the surrounding area taking participate in high quality dance sessions through a qualified YDance tutor, supported by Active Schools Young Leaders

• NQT Training

  The Active Schools team attended primary and secondary school Newly Qualified Teachers (NQT) training days where they delivered presentations about how they can get involved with Active Schools. The team then delivered Mini-Fit training to all primary NQTs. This course will give the NQTs the fundamental skills to deliver fun and engaging sport/physical activity sessions with pupils across East Dunbartonshire. It is hoped that NQTs will use their new skills and knowledge to deliver extra-curricular sessions within their schools.

Business & Digital Change   

The B & DC Team have 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 and resilient, scalable, standardised, value for money and secure.  

Finance  

The Finance team has been working as a team through a challenging period with the implementation of Fusion and PBCS. There were delays to the 2023/24 audit timetable which have caused delays in the 2024/25 audit timelines.  Despite these competing demands Finance has continued to report on expected outcomes, treasury management and are working through the budget and year end positions.  

Internal Audit  

The Team is working on completing the 2025/26 Internal Audit Plan, in line with available resources.  In the first half of the year audits completed included Consultation & Engagement Strategy, Major Purchases Anti-Fraud Controls, and Administration of Medication in Educational Establishments.   

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 National Fraud Initiative – a data matching exercise.   

ICT Services  

The ICT Services team continue to support the Council’s information technology assets and systems to ensure high availability and performance in line with agreed service levels. The team have dealt with 7,000 tickets for service requests and 1,750 telephone calls in the first half of this year.  
  
The team have been working closely with the Business and Digital Change Team across multiple projects.  The team have been working to upgrade the underlying infrastructure including switches, routers and servers.  
  
The team have worked with Procurement Colleagues to progress projects including perimeter defences and storage array network.  

Revenues and Benefits  

The Revenues and Benefits team continue to process collection of council tax, administration of benefits and the Scottish Welfare fund. So far this year the team have completed the year end process for Council Tax and NDR.  
  
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 55.25% is very slightly behind the target of 55.63% for the year.  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 continue to provide support across all Council services. The Annual Letting process for Community Letting was initiated and completed.   The Transport Team worked with colleagues in Education, Social Work, Procurement and Legal to tender and award the school transport requirements for the new academic year.  The Education Team completed the placing request administration for 25/26.  
  
The General Team continued the development of the Free School Meals and School Clothing Grants applications process reducing the time between applications and payments.    

Business & Digital Change  

• The Business Systems Team have successfully  maintained 88 business systems.  This has included 12  system upgrades, management of 72 incidents, 4  integrations and supported several digital transformation projects throughout the year as well as contributed to the ongoing rollout of Windows 11.  In addition, they have played a key role in decommissioning a legacy solution, improving efficiency and reducing maintenance overheads. Fusion HCM Delivery Team finalised data migration cycle 3 and 4 to improve completion times
• System integration testing for the new Oracle HCM HR/Payroll system was accomplished
• Key User Training (KUT) for Oracle Fusion was successfully completed. These sessions allowed users their first experience of using the new solution based on the agreed design
• Work completed to modernise sheltered housing complexes, with new digital telecare alarms having been installed across 241 properties
• Address and block initiative complete to improve data quality across the property portfolio and support integration between NEC Housing, Servitor and the corporate address gazetteer.
• Enhancements added to the transport database, improving contract setup, routing and processes for the Transport team
• Delivery of CareFirst training for the latest intake of students and newly appointed social workers
•  A new interim solution for annual lettings was developed and launched on CRM with a digital deposit form that now incorporates online payments
• The online tool for refuse collections has been completed and is now live on the council website
• Delivery of the new monthly payroll for all employees of East Dunbartonshire Council and the Leisure Trust was completed
• The core housing management system underwent a major system and component upgrade from version 22.2 to 25.1.  

 Finance  

Despite the challenges in the year, the team has been able to achieve the following in the first half of 2025/26:  

• Responding to audit queries on the 2023/24 draft accounts
• Monitoring reports completed for General Fund, HRA and Capital
• Treasury Monitoring reports up to date
• Started working on 26/27 budgets
• 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.  

Internal Audit  

•  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 has been completed in the form of a gap analysis & action plan for the new Global Internal Audit Standards
• Reporting to Audit & Risk Management Committee and the HSCP’s Performance, Audit and Risk Committee with detail of progress and achievements.  

 Corporate Fraud 

• The team continues to undertake vetting on applications, from several services, in order to prevent to fraud and any potential reputational damage
• Reporting on results to the Audit & Risk Management Committee.    

ICT Services  

•  The Infrastructure Team:
  •  Completed the migration from Direct Access to Always On VPN  
  • Commenced the installation of new Interactive Panels across the school estate  
  • Liaised with Major Assets Team to finalise ICT requirements for various refurbishments and decants  
  • Completed the ICT Decant of Milngavie Primary to Torrance and St Nicholas Primaries
  • Commenced replacing obsolete Windows 10 laptops with Windows 11 laptops and in place upgrades 
• ICT Security have:  
  • Monitored incident reporting through partners
  • Addressed remediations for the annual IT Health Check
  • Maintained the Council’s perimeter defences
  • Upgraded the Firewall software to maintain security.  

Revenues and Benefits  

• For the first six months of this year, the team have processed/ issued: 
  • 21,900 Council Tax bills  
  • 53,300 Benefits notifications 
  • 3,700 Non-Domestic Rates bills
  • 2,100 crisis grants and community care grant applications were received
  • 3,450 documents for Council Tax queries and reduction  
  • 12,500 ATLAS notifications from DWP
  • 15,600 telephone enquiries.    

Shared Services  

• The Residential Team added over 700 service agreements to CareFirst for clients moving into care homes or for supported living services within their own homes
• The Homecare Team added over 2000 srvice agreements to CareFirst for clients receiving a homecare service or a direct payment.  The team are supporting the Planning & Commissioning Team by processing variations from a new initiative
• The Direct Payment Audit Team - 120 direct payment audits (104 standard, 16 full) finalised for clients receiving self-direct support
• The Transport Team completed the procurement process for the 2025/26 transport requirements
• The EMA Team processed 250 applications for EMA
• Completed the Annual Letting process for the 2025/26 academic year.  

Business & Digital Change  

• Transitional arrangements for Business & Digital Change Team following the resignation of the Service Manager
• Regular monitoring and reporting of progress, risks and issues
• Active engagement with internal teams and external suppliers to confirm capacity and manage interdependencies
• Early identification and escalation of issues through established governance routes
• Flexibility within delivery plans to respond to changing circumstances where required.

Finance

• The team is reviewing the 2026/27 budget process in order to provide a balanced position in a highly challenging financial context
• 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 is hoped to be followed 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. 

Internal Audit  

• Work on the 2025/26 plan with audits such as Complaints Management, Green Waste Permits and the Supply Teacher Database being near completion. Work has begun on 25/26 audits of Winter Planning Maintenance.  

Corporate Fraud  

• 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.   

ICT Services 

• The ICT Team are working to ensure the successful roll out of Windows 11 to ensure compliance with security standards
• The team is focused on ensuring that the new AV equipment in the schools   is fully utilised and any issues are addressed. 

Revenues and Benefits  

• The team are prioritising cases to meet service targets for the year.   

Shared Services  

• The team will support the changes to the overtime process across the Council providing support to service managers. 

This report reflects progress on performance relating to 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. 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 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.

The HSCP continues to deliver on the majority of its performance indicators with 8 performance indicators on green, 2 performance indicators on amber, and 3 performance indicators on red:

• The percentage of first Looked After & Accommodated reviews taking place within 4 weeks of the child being accommodated is below target due to one reviewing taking place outwith timescale
• The percentage of Adult Protection cases where the required timescales have been met was slightly off target, reflecting the ongoing pressures on service capacity and the increasing complexity of referrals
• Percentage of people 65+ indicating satisfaction with their social interaction opportunities was 94% which is slightly below the target of 95%
• The percentage of Initial Child Protection Planning Meetings taking place within Child Protection National Guidance target timescales was below target due to one postponement required to allow further assessment
• The balance of care between community and residential settings for looked after children remains below target due to an increase in the demand for residential placements, leading to a decrease in the balance of care. 

• East Dunbartonshire achieved Green status for the Medication Assisted Treatment (MAT) standards. The MAT standards are evidence-based standards to enable the consistent delivery of safe, accessible, high-quality drug treatment across Scotland
• Just Enough Support is a strengths-based approach involving local community assets; improving outcomes despite tightening eligibility. The train the trainer approach, which has built staff confidence and contributed to a strengths-based culture in East Dunbartonshire, has been highlighted on the Personal Outcomes Network website
• The HSCP Annual Performance Report 2024/25, setting out the Partnership’s performance and progress towards the final year of the Strategic Plan 2022-25, was approved by the Integration Joint Board
• A customer survey for our Care at Home service provided excellent feedback, with over 95% of respondents having a positive view of the service (rated as excellent, very good or good). A total of 174 customers responded to the survey (43% of forms returned) and 84% of respondents rated the service as excellent or very good
• East Dunbartonshire Learning Disability Day Services has been shortlisted as one of the finalists at this year’s The Herald & GenAnalytics Scottish Impact Awards 2025, for the Diversity & Inclusion Leadership Award
• The Joint Learning Disability Team celebrated Scottish Learning Disability Week by hosting conversation cafés in services we support across East Dunbartonshire. We visited John Street Residential home, Empower Unity Day Services and the Allander Day Centre and spoke about what the theme I Am Here means to them
• Promotional activity in support of:
  • Community Connections: Meet Your Services event in April
  • Power of Attorney resources and overview event
  • Demystifying Death Week
  • Foster Care Fortnight
  • Mental Health Awareness Week
  • Carers Week
  • Future Care Planning
  • Learning Disability Week
  • Police Scotland Partnership Event at KHCC
  • Whole Family Wellbeing Drop In Sessions
  • Health Information Hubs
  • East Dunbartonshire Compassionate Distress Response Service
  • Bishopbriggs Community Treatment & Care Centre
  • SafeConnect to help safeguard people with dementia at risk of going missing
  • No One Dies Alone service
  • Suicide Prevention Week

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
• Refresh Digital Strategy in line with the new Strategic Plan 2025-30
• 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:

• Review Care at Home services to focus on reablement expansion to mitigate demand growth 
• 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 and learning disability health services across adult and older people care group
• Adult and Children & Families Services Commissioning Review 
• Review of adult Social Work delivery model.

Strategic Commissioning Team (SCT) 

The SCT dedicated considerable time and resource to supporting the HSCP in progressing key strategic priorities and informing budget related decisions in relation to commissioned services.  The Team remains integral in preparing information and reports for consideration by the HSCP Board and leading on several implementation workstreams.  In addition, the SCT continued to provide daily oversight and management of the commissioned market, ensuring providers and services are supported, invoking intervention approaches if/where necessary to reduce and/or mitigate sustainability pressures.  

Corporate Procurement Team

Key priorities for the Team have focused on ongoing Fusion Implementation (the Council’s new financial management system), Key tendering and contractual requirements, Transformation Projects, support for the Capital Programme, City Deal, Key IT Systems, Business Grant payments and the payment of external payees.

The Corporate Procurement Team continues to provide daily, centralised council wide support for those dealing with ordering goods/works/services and the management of the Council’s payees.  The ongoing implementation and quarterly upgrades of Oracle Fusion have been delivered without additional resources and in addition to business as usual work.  The complete Corporate Procurement Service has been involved in this work, often going above and beyond to juggle the demands of the ongoing system implementation/upgrades, support for high profile, high priority corporate work and the need to maintain business as usual.

The Team has ensured that all of its delivery and outputs have been aligned to the Council’s Procurement governance arrangements and organisational priorities, by providing guidance, contract management/advice, training and skills development for an embedded procurement governance approach, whilst overseeing external third party spend.

Legal Services

Legal Services is divided into three teams: City Deal, Commercial and Litigation & Licensing.

The Legal Services City Deal Team provides support to the Council’s City Deal project team in delivering the Council’s projects and more generally as part of the wider Glasgow City Region City Deal regeneration work.  This includes supporting the wider City Deal team with the provision of advice in relation to ongoing contract management and project specific challenges, in addition to land assembly, report writing and other tasks necessary to progress the City Deal work.

The Commercial Team continues to provide support in furtherance of the Council’s priorities as well as “business as usual” work.  The team continues to work closely with the Procurement Service in ensuring contracts are put in place so the wider Council can continue to provide services to customers.  Work includes contracts, grants, planning agreements, data protection and conveyancing including open market purchases.

The Litigation and Licensing Team continues to support the Council’s services in the management of various complex matters both at the pre-litigation stage and during litigation.  Main areas of work including housing, Education including ASN Tribunals, Social Work, employment and general litigation.  The team also provides significant support to the school placing appeals.  The Council continues to receive a disproportionally high number of placing request appeals which results in several weeks of appeal hearings.

The Service also continues to provide legal advice at quasi-judicial boards including the Local Review Body, Planning Board, Non-Domestic Rates Appeal Board, Licensing Board, HR Appeals Board and Civic Government Appeals Board.

As always, Legal Services continues to provide strategic advice and support to its colleagues in other services on the full range of legal issues facing the Council.  This work is often complex and not suitable for detailed public reporting due to its confidential and/or sensitive nature.

Information Management

The Information Management Team is a small team for administering information governance, including freedom of information requests and subject access requests, record keeping, mail and print for the Council.  As well administration, the team provides advice on all areas of information management on answering infromation requests, carrying out data protection impact assessments and data rights requests which are becoming increasingly more frequent and complex.

The Team also has an operational role and is responsible for managing the Council’s mailroom.  This includes arrangements for posting outgoing mail and the scanning and saving of all incoming mail.  The Team also manages the corporate print contract and provides specialist/bulk printing for other services within the Council.

Democratic Services

Throughout the first six months of 2025-26, the Democratic Services Team continued to support the internal governance of the Council, in addition to certain regulatory functions.  Thirty-nine governance meetings took place during this period, which includes the traditional summer recess from late June until mid-August.

Officers continued to support Members with the move to paperless meetings and use of the Modern.gov App.  Preparations are well advanced for the use of Modern.gov to support the maintenance and publication of Members’ Registers of Interest, after which focus will move to implementing the petitions module.  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. 

As part of the annual Primary and Secondary Schools Registration process, the Team undertook the administrative arrangements for 50 Placing Requests Appeals held in June 2025.  This comprised all the administrative arrangements involved in setting up the meetings including dealing with children and families who submitted an appeal, preparation of agenda packs, supporting appellants to join the meetings, facilitation of the appeal hearings and issuing decision letters.  The Council regularly receives a disproportionately high number of Placing Request Appeals, and the appeal process represents a significant commitment from both Officers and Members.  More generally, the Team continued to support the administrative arrangements for mid-term appeals.

The Team continues to engage with the 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 detailed planning commenced in August, immediately after the Council recess.  Work also commenced, locally and nationally, in preparation for the Local Government Elections in 2027.

The Team also continued to support Children’s Hearings Scotland as part of the North Strathclyde Area Support Team.  Ongoing support was also provided to Community Councils.  With regards to the Community Council annual grants, paperwork was issued to Community Councils for completion and submission to the Council and grant payments were released upon receipt of completed paperwork.

The Team continues to participate in local, regional and national resilience partnership meetings and training exercises.  This is becoming increasingly time consuming and complex as risks change.  In particular, there is increasing demand being placed on the Team by both the Scottish and UK Government’s requirements around PREVENT, which is part of the counter terrorism agenda.

In addition to planning, the Team has responded to several civil contingency incidents during the first two quarters of 2025/26, including the fire at the former Campsie View Primary School and the discovery of explosive materials in Lenzie.  The Team also continued to engage with partners across Greater Glasgow as part of ongoing resilience planning for winter preparedness and other potential incidents, including those which may impact on the demand for additional storage in the event of additional deaths or delays in the registration and committal processes.

The Council continued to deliver registration services throughout the period, and when able, supported colleagues in neighbouring authorities in response to peaks in demand.  

The service continued to support Members and the Strategic Leadership Team.  The SLT Support team plays a key role in the preparation of reports for Council/Committees etc and officers from SLT Support and Members Support participated in the Civic Committee and delivered many of the decisions of that Committee. 

Strategic Commissioning Team 

• Developed & implemented revised Planning Protocol geared towards delivering management efficiency whilst improving and strengthening oversight & governance across a key strategic service area
• Supported a local organisation to re-design its service model resulting in increased local capacity to meet complex & challenging needs
• Successfully transitioned individuals diagnosed with complex health needs who were in long stay hospital settings, into more appropriate / homely community settings 
• Successfully transitioned invoice payments onto Carefirst generating financial, service and management efficiencies 
• 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
• Successfully complied with the requirements set out in the Health and Care (Staffing) (Scotland) Act 2019 and subsequent Scottish Governments reporting requirements.  The Team also ensures commissioned providers remain compliant
• Reviewed & updated financial frameworks aligned to strategic reviews to ensure accuracy, alignment with the HSCP’s medium term financial plan & respective commissioning delivery plans
• Completed a strategic needs analysis of commissioned Children & Criminal Justice services to help inform the development of a related Commissioning Strategy 
• Developed and progressed several Option Appraisals aligned to transformation, redesign and budget priorities
• Worked collaboratively with Housing Colleagues regarding future housing development options.  Discussions align Housing’s SHIP (Strategic Housing Investment Plan) with the HSCP’s strategic accommodation priorities
• Engaged with external HSCP’s to co-produce & co-design a complex service model capable of providing cross boundary generic support to meet identified needs & outcomes & deliver value for money
• Contributed to and supported progression of multi-agency collaborative and commissioning inpatient redesign approaches geared towards alleviating acute and community pressures
• In line with national policy requirements, implemented the 2025/26 Scottish Living Wage uplift across all eligible Adults and Children’s Services
• Developed and implemented the Schedule of Rates which aligns to the HSCP’s Fair Access Policy.  

Corporate Procurement Team

• 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, school new build contracts, and general budget projects such as school maintenance works, School Transport contracts 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 June
• Review of resourcing considerations to support Project workload and business as usual priorities
• Data extraction, review, redaction and submission of external third party spend for the 2024-2025 financial year to Scottish Government

Legal Services

• The team continued to support the wider City Deal Team with advice and support to the Bishopbriggs Town Centre project including negotiations for land acquisition for the project; supporting the Westerhill Development Road including support in relation for the full design and build construction contract, supporting the procurement process for the variation of existing specimen design contract, completion of pre-construction services delivery agreement for detailed design, conveyancing work for to acquire land for the project; as well as providing support in relation to options appraisals for the wider City Deal project
• Planning work included providing advice both at Planning Board and the Local Review Body, concluding s75 agreements to secure developer contributions, including Education, Open Space and Affordable Housing contributions and otherwise supporting the Planning Service through the provision of advice and assistance
• Conveyancing work including open market purchases to assist with the Council’s stock of affordable houses, acquiring land for AHIP2 and giving advice on different titles
• The team also provided support for the making of both TROs and TTROs including 20mph speed restriction orders
• Lease work included new leases at Springfield House, Southbank Marina, Springfield Works, and Milngavie Enterprise Centre, Twechar Green, consenting to sub-leases including to a pharmacist for part of the Twechar Centre
• Contractual and procurement work included contract for refurbishment works at Torrance Community Centre; Oracle upgrade contractual work; contract award for treatment and disposal of recylcate waste CSO; contract for electrical rewire work; supporting Strategic Commissioning including the issue of National Care Home uplift variation letters; delivery agreement for the refurbishment works at Milngavie Primary School; contracts in relation to Oracle Fusion; design and build development agreement for new Balmuildy Primary School and Early Years Centre; vehicle awards including waste refuse collection vehicles and 17 seater minibuses; variety of data sharing agreements; renewal of Duke of Edinburgh licence; appointments made to Outdoor Play Park Framework as well as awards for Play Park Areas; contract awards for demolition of Campsie View School, Merkland School, Auchinairn School and Lister Petter Building
• Grant work included the acceptance of grants for City Deal, Tier 2 Active Travel Infrastructure Fund, No One Left Behind, Social Work Justice, Gaelic Specific grant, SPT Bike Grants for maintenance and storage; and the issuing of grants for employability finding
• Litigation work include providing support to Housing colleagues in relation to management of Housing Tenants including resolving an appeal to the Sheriff Appeal Court; Social Work colleagues in relation to adults with incapacity and permanence planning, to Education on a variety of matters including ASN Tribunal work (including in relation to placing request appeals); advice to colleagues in HR including resolution of employment claims; successfully defending an appeal to the Secretary of State against a decision by the Council to revoke a licence for storing fireworks; obtaining a dismissal at court where an application was sought for compensation of refusal to grant a licensing application
• As well as regular civic, taxi and liquor licensing work, the team provided advice to the Short Term Lets Licensing Team; processed a high number of Public Entertainment Licences, often in short timescales, particularly to support community events in the summer; advised the Licensing Board on the assessment of a trial period for a beer garden within Torrance; preparation of the Board’s Statement of Principles and conducting a consultation on the same; work to increase taxi fares; engagement with the taxi trade to establish whether there is support for a restructure of taxi fares; progressing work to better regulate taxi centres; continuing work to identify suitable locations for taxi stances
• Assisting with the development of a Mugdock Park application to allow a streamlined process, where appropriate, for persons and organisation to obtain permission to film in Mugdock Park.  This went live in June, and the team is working with colleagues in the Communications Team to develop a similar process across the Council area.

Information Management Team

• During this period, the team received and processed 953 EIR/FOI requests, 48 EIR/FOI reviews and 94 subject access requests.
• Carried out a procurement exercise to appoint a new contract for the Managed Print Contract.  Once fully implemented this will support efficiencies with implementation of “Walk to Print” strategy as well as support the Council’s sustainability commitments including the use of remanufactured machines.

Democratic Services

• Along with colleagues in Customer Services, the Team undertook and oversaw registration of the following –
  • 365 new births
  • 885 deaths
  • 194 marriages and
  • 6 Civil Partnerships
    
    
• Over the same period, Citizenship Ceremonies were conducted which saw 54 new adult applicants from East Dunbartonshire becoming British Citizens
• The Team provided administrative and other supports to the Civic Office including the facilitation of civic hospitality and support for the Provost in attending various events including Golden Wedding celebrations etc
• Continued development of the new committee administration system, which included support for report authors and work to develop the Register of Interests function
• Democratic Services conducted 56 Placing Request Appeals hearings, which represents fewer than usual but still represents a significant undertaking over a very short period of time.

Strategic Commissioning Team 

• Analysis of benchmarking data across wider markets and HSCPs
• Review implementation and contractual processes for Direct Payments

Review Schedule B (budget analysis tool) to support & inform detailed budget / commercial information

• Contract management arrangements – develop a more efficient and effective governance framework.

Corporate Procurement Team

• Invoice Payment KPI actions in relation to wider Services Fusion management
• Finalisation of 2024-2025 Annual Procurement Report
• Review of Contract Standing Orders
• Develop self service arrangements for low value, low risk purchasing.

Legal Services

• Continue work for self-service arrangements
• Redevelop arrangements for strategically aligned solicitors
• Process review etc of remaining civic licences.

Information Management Team

• Encourage greater efficiencies in printing
• Implement hybrid mail
• Increase awareness of understanding of data protection and freedom information requirements across the organisation especially with training aimed at Information Management Liaison Officers and mangers in other services
• Update system to administer information request and data right requests as well as consider efficiencies in working practices
• Refresh the Freedom of Information Toolkit.

Democratic Services

• Further development of the Modern.Gov system
• Review of the Community Council Establishment Scheme
• Review of the Administrative Scheme in advance of the Local Government elections
• Review of appointments to external bodies in advance of the local government elections.

Land Planning & Development have progressed a number of strategic and complex projects over the reporting period.  Some highlights include the Lennoxtown Main Street securing funding, the building warrant for Balmuildy Primary School and the Full Business Cases for the Westerhill Development Road and the Bishopbriggs Town Centre.  In addition, the teams have advanced key policy work streams such as the adoption of the Food Growing Strategy 2026 - 2031 and approval for consultation of the Draft Climate Action Plan (CAP).  Planning and preparation for the installation of digital telecare across all Sheltered Housing Complexes is well advanced with the project due to complete by summer 2026.  Two indicators are off target.  One relates to town centre footfall.  There is a general decline in footfall trends across the whole of the authority and this is an area for focus for the remaining two quarters to better understand the trend.

• During the reporting period the planning side of the team has determined 339 applications and validated 315 applications. The Building Standards team have received 456 building warrants and approved 581 applications.

• During the reporting period the Enforcement Team opened 9 new cases and closed 31. These new cases were varied in their nature from domestic extensions, to change of use of land and a number of amenity cases.

• The team have been working closely with colleagues in legal services to finalise legal agreements such as for the residential development at Crofthead Cottages in Bishopbriggs.  This agreement secures financial contribution of £178,000

• During this reporting period the Building Standards Team have continued working through the staged Building Warrant applications for larger applications such as the new Balmuildy Primary School in Bishopbriggs which has been a complex process requiring collaborative working to utilise the relative skills and experience within the team including fire engineering.

• The team have continued to help support the Council’s Major Assets team and ensure projection construction deadlines have been met. The team have provided support to key projects such as the Auchinairn Affordable Housing site and Former Campsie Primary School as well as the WDR Project

• The Building Standards team have been working closely with colleagues in Housing Services and their appointed design team in relation to early engagement on design layouts to help give certainly over building warrant approval for future projects.

The team deliver a range of key regeneration services and projects. Including: town centre initiatives, capital development projects, external funding and resource generation, tourism and events, regeneration opportunities, and support the development of new related area focused plans, strategies and policies.  During the first half of the year the team have progressed the following:

• The Campsie Memorial Hall in Lennoxtown has been progressed well over this period and is in the construction stage

• The Lennoxtown Main Street Project secured funding in this period, following which procurement for a contractor to undertake the works began

• The team has worked closely with the Milngavie BID and the new Kirkintilloch Town Centre BID as they implement their 5 year business plans

• Work has been undertaken to engage with various funding streams to support a range of projects. This includes the administration of large funding amounts already secured, for example the Regeneration Capital Grant Fund.

• The programme management of the Shared Prosperity Fund Year 4 is ongoing. A range of projects have been identified and are being progressed across the Council for implementation by end of March 2026

• The Twechar Canalside Outdoor Pursuits Centre project construction completed this quarter as well as finalising lease arrangements with Twechar Community Action. 

• Further progress was made on the Draft Climate Action Plan (CAP) and it was published online along with accompanying papers in advance of a Council decision on whether to approve the draft CAP for consultation on 2 October.   This follows extensive internal engagement with the Council’s SLT.  The consultation is being organised in collaboration with the Council’s comms team and EDVA, and will include an online survey, drop-in events, public engagement events, digital events, school engagement and bespoke events to respond to requests for engagement from communities.  It will run from 13 October 2025 until 19 December, subject to Council approval.
• Work was undertaken to prepare a report for Community Planning Partnership Board in October to drive forward partnership arrangements and to provide an update on the Climate Action Plan
• A successful bid for up to £50,000 for Scottish Government funding was made to for a feasibility study for a heat network in central Kirkintilloch,  based on an opportunity identified in the Council’s Local Heat & Energy Efficiency Strategy (LHEES) Delivery Plan. A consultant has been appointed and a project kick-off has been scheduled for October
• Recruitment of a new Sustainable Transport Policy Officer and Climate Change Policy and Strategic Environmental Assessment Officer were completed

• Meeting were held with National Energy System Operator (NESO) and the Sustainability Team collated information on grid infrastructure upgrades in East Dunbartonshire including planned work for heat decarbonisation, transport decarbonisation and major developments to inform NESO’s work on the future energy needs to promote growth in Scotland. Meetings were also attended events in August and September 2025 to provide input on the UK’s Strategic Spatial Energy Plan.

• 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.

• Work on the next Local Development Plan for East Dunbartonshire is ongoing. The Evidence Report for Local Development Plan 3 (LDP3) was approved by Council on 19 June 2025 for submission to the Planning and Environmental Appeals Division to undertake the Gate Check assessment.  The Gate Check assessment begun on 18 August 2025, with notice of the outcome expected in early November 2025

• A Call for Ideas and Sites consultation as part of the preparation of the Proposed Plan for LDP3 was undertaken between 21 July 2025 and 15 September 2025.  The consultation ran for a period of 8 weeks and the following sessions took place to support the consultation

  • Online information session on 07 August 2025

  • Drop-in session in Kirkintilloch Town Hall on 14 August 2025 

  • Drop-in session in the Fraser Centre, Milngavie on 19 August 2025

Officers will consider all of the information received during the consultation as part of the preparation of the Proposed Plan.  A supplementary consultation event with school children is planned to take place in Bearsden Academy in November 2025

• The Land Planning Policy Team has prepared and submitted a response to the Scottish Government’s consultation on draft guidance on ‘Planning Obligations and Good Neighbourhood Agreements’.  The team has also been working in partnership with Development Management colleagues on preparing a response to a government consultation on ‘Permitted development rights to support the provision of new homes.’  The response will be submitted to the government by the closing date for comments on 27 October 2025

• The Land Planning Policy Team Leader has been leading on the Council’s input into the National Planning Improvement Framework (NPIF), including:

  • Meeting with officers from Inverclyde as our peer planning authority to discuss best practice, common issues and new ways of working

  • Ensuring that the actions identified within the improvement action plan are progressed and discussed at management team meetings,r

  • Poviding updates on progress with the improvement action plan to the National Planning Improvement Team; and

  • Providing feedback to the National Planning Improvement Team on the Council’s experience of implementing the first year of the NPIF process

• Planners from the Land Planning Policy Team attended a workshop on options for encouraging more intermediate affordable housing in the area

• Work is continuing on the preparation of a new Greenspace Strategy, which will replace the existing Green Network Strategy and Open Space Strategy.  The strategy will build upon various pieces of work, including the Play Sufficiency Assessment (which was approved by Council on 19 June 2025 as part of the Evidence Report for LDP3).  Work is continuing on an updated Open Space Audit which will also support the development of the Greenspace Strategy and will help to identify priority projects for inclusion in the strategy

• A final engagement exercise on a Food Growing Strategy for the area was undertaken in August and included the following events (organised concurrently with the Call for Ideas and Sites consultation):

  • Drop-in session in Kirkintilloch Town Hall on 14 August 2025 

  • Drop-in session in the Fraser Centre, Milngavie on 19 August 2025

• The Land Planning Policy Team has begun work on a new Economic Development Strategy (EDS) for East Dunbartonshire.  Early engagement was commenced in February 2025 and continued into April 2025.  In addition to public engagement events that were conducted earlier in the engagement period, officers sought the views of young people on the local economy through the Pupil Forum and Hillhead Youth Project (both taking place in late April).  All responses received across the engagement period have been collated and analysed to create a foundation for developing the new EDS.  A socio-economic baseline for the strategy has also been devised, in conjunction with the Glasgow City Region Intelligence Hub

• Work on the monitoring and delivery of the Circular Economy Strategy approved in March 2023 is ongoing.  A revised and updated monitoring framework for the strategy is expected to be considered at Council on 02 October 2025 (alongside the draft Climate Action Plan)

• The Economic Development and Place Policy Officer prepared a response to the Economy and Fair Work Committee’s Call for Views on the Community Wealth Building Bill.  A draft response was provided to Members as a Technical Note (2025 Issue 93), with the final response being submitted to the Economy and Fair Work Committee on 23 May 2025

• Meetings of the East Dunbartonshire Economic Partnership (EDEP) were held on 28 April 2025 and 06 August 2025.  At the April meeting a draft economic baseline and initial outputs from the early engagement were presented to and discussed by the partnership.  The August meeting took the form an information and discussion session on the potential impacts of the Community Wealth Building Bill

The Housing Strategy & Systems Team have progressed the following activities in the reporting period:

• Transition to the new IHMS system continues to be supported by the IHMS Project team. Officers are utilising both Test and Live environments until snagging is complete in preparation for moving on to Phase 2
• Systems officers are assisting with day-to-day processing of direct debits and the set-up of rent accounts in both Test and Live 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
• Systems and Performance Monitoring officers completed BOXI training and can now utilise bespoke reporting functionality within IHMS
• Policy officers continue to work on revising the Council’s Allocations Policy
• 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. Asbestos surveys will be carried out at each site to ensure that operatives commissioned can access properties safely. Contractor has completed works at one site and awaiting final completion and formal sign off, before progressing onto the next site
• The Housing Estates Officer is working closely with sheltered housing Wardens to ensure a robust service is provided to tenants during the Telecare switchover to the new system and to minimise disruption to tenants as equipment is removed and replaced
• The Housing Estates officer continues to deliver health and safety training to Concierge officers and Wardens and is responsible for delivery of Toolbox talks on various topics to maintain knowledge of standards and procedures when carrying out duties in relation to their respective roles.

The City Deal Team develop and deliver the commitments of the Council’s City Deal Project – East Dunbartonshire Place & Growth Programme. This will delivery transport and connectivity improvements, economic regeneration and investment, place making and town centre renewal in the Bishopbriggs/Westerhill area. 

• The team continues with a range of work to ensure the delivery of the Council’s City Deal project, including the preparation of the different stages of business cases (in-line with Glasgow City Region & HM Greenbook requirements) which are required to unlock the funding from the region

• Full Business Cases for the Westerhill Development Road and the Bishopbriggs Town Centre were prepared in this period, to be finalised and submitted to Council in December 2025

• Ongoing work with a range of landowners in the town centre and Westerhill to facilitate the completion of project designs and business cases

• Work to explore active travel funding for connections at the Westerhill Regeneration Area. Including work with one of the key landowners to examine ways they could take forward elements of these designs and works

• Working with other team, such as Business Support, marketing strategy for the Westerhill Regeneration Area has started to be developed. The purpose being to raise the profile of the area, and attract inward investment and employment. 

Business Support team deliver programmes and services to support business and facilitate sustainable economic growth and business development. This includes the delivery of projects from the Economic Development Strategy and Economic Recovery Plan and direct proactive engagement with on-going support to local businesses, through Business Gateway to encourage and support new start business, business growth, and sustainability job creation and inward investment. 

• The team has been delivering business support via the ongoing Business Gateway contract in relation to start up, growth businesses and local expert help.

• The SPF Year 4 has funded further business support grants, for example support SMEs with Cyber Security and Digital Technology, and sustainability

• The team completed the preparation of the site enabling and regeneration grant, which went live in Q3

• More generally growth and inward investment enquiries are being supported and coordinated by the team, directing them primarily at masterplan locations (Kirkintilloch Gateway, and the Westerhill Regeneration Masterplan Area). 

The Traffic and Transport Team lead on the delivery of the Local Transport, Active Travel Strategies and the Parking Strategy as well as the development and delivery of key transportation infrastructure programmes, initiatives and projects which incorporate place making principles for the development of sustainable places, town centre first principles, economic growth and reduction of inequalities. All projects are externally funded and delivered in partnership with organisations such as Strathclyde Partnership for Transport, Transport Scotland and Paths for All to encourage and support a change in travel behaviour, healthier communities and improved access to employment. 

• The team continue to work closely with colleagues in Education to deliver cycle and scooter training in primary and secondary schools across East Dunbartonshire through the iBike Programme. The team also secured funding and delivered 150 bikes for schools across the authority

• The Canniesburn Toll Improvement Project moved through its defects period post construction completion earlier in 2025. Monitoring work was undertaken in September 2025

• Feasibility and design works are progressing on a range of active travel infrastructure projects included in the Local Transport and Active Travel Strategies, including works to improve various active travel paths

• The A807 Active Travel Project detailed designs for 1b are progressing. Section 1b will be the next stage to be constructed. Design for stage 2 and 3 are also underway

• The Traffic Free Schools continues now in its second phase of primary schools following a successful pilot. The schools from the pilot have adopted the scheme fully, and a new batch of schools are now in the scheme

• The BetterPoints East Dunbartonshire App has also been launched to promote active travel

• 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

• 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, supporting the Planning Service with transport planning support and continuing to assist in resolving access issues.

• Draft Climate Action Plan was published in advance of the Council meeting in October 2025
• Evidence Report for Local Development Plan 3 approved at Council on 19 June 2025 
• £50,000 was secured from Scottish Government for a feasibility study in Kirkintilloch Town Centre
• East Dunbartonshire had the second lowest per person emissions out of the 32 local authorities in Scotland according to the most recent UK Government data
• Twechar Outdoor Pursuits Centre completed
• Funding awards for transport projects and town/village centre regeneration (for example Active Travel Infrastructure Fund and Regeneration Capital Grant Fund).

Quarters 3 and 4 require further focus on town centres footfall more generally.  There is a trend this year across the area which requires further consideration as well as investigation in to the available technology to better monitor footfall.  The teams will continue to support both BIDs in the area as well as progressing the civic space work in Bishopbriggs as important interventions.

Over the first two quarters of 2025/26 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 with the addition of the Corporate Health and Safety Team. 

• Roads Network Operations

• Roads Technical & Engineering 

• Streetscene Technical Support (including Bereavement and Arboriculture)

• Streetscene Operations (including grounds maintenance, street cleansing and cemetery operations)

• Waste Services (including domestic & commercial waste & recycling collections)

• Fleet Services (including fleet operations, maintenance, and transportation)

• Mugdock Country Park

• Corporate Health & Safety Team 

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

The various sections within the portfolio groups continue to progress both revenue operation/maintenance work and internally and externally funded capital projects with support from colleagues in Procurement, Legal, 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. 

All teams continue to monitor, and track spend to ensure budgets are closely managed. 

The team continue to deliver both planned and reactive maintenance to both carriageways, footways, and street lighting assets. The Service numbers fluctuate with staff turnover caused by leavers and retirements during the first six months of the financial year. In terms of resource available some vacancies for operational posts are being advertised. The Service has completed the recruitment process for a replacement Senior Streetlighting Technician following the retirement of the current post holder. The Streetlighting Team are transitioning to the new team. 

The 2025/26 capital programmes for carriageway, footway resurfacing and lighting projects have commenced. The first two Technical Notes were issued in April and July with an update on works concluded to date and work re-sequenced due to external factors. Regrettably, the Streetlighting Team are continuing to work at a reduced capacity, so this is likely to affect the projected capital programme. However, as stated the team will review the remainder of this years capital projects and plan for 2025/26. 

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

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 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 have completed their summer grounds maintenance programmes including grass cutting operations, herbicide treatment, care of Gardens service, play area inspections etc. The teams are also undertaking street cleansing of all adopted council roads and pavements including litter collection, 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 analysis of the Ash Dieback Survey results continues with the relevant team and result in actions that need to be prioritised to address this important issue. 

The team have completed the snagging work associated with the Climate Ready Park Project in Etive Park, Bishopbriggs.

The team is also progressing a few Play Area improvement and replacement projects throughout East Dunbartonshire.

The team have completed their spring/summer maintenance period. 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 Leader continues to review the park operations with a view to improving the infrastructure and ensure that the park remains a major attraction.

The Waste Team has continued the frontline service operations for the collection of over 400,000 assorted household bins over the first six months of the financial year, 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 tonnes of waste through this contract, ensuring our waste undergoes treatment for recycling extraction prior to being sent through an Energy from Waste process.

The introduction of the Green (Garden) Waste Collection has completed its second year, and permit sales and income are up in comparison with year one. 

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 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 multiple Service areas across the Council to support service delivery across communities. 

Replacement vehicles continue to arrive from suppliers for various Service areas while vehicles are disposed of once the replacement has arrived and been deployed. 

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

The Corporate Health and Safety team provides a range of occupational safety and health services, including advice on statutory guidance, safety action notices, safe working and training, incident reporting and investigation, including RIDDOR.  The H&S Team continues to work cooperatively with Trade Union colleagues to review incidents statistics and other health and safety activities.

Ongoing and comprehensive health and safety assistance is provided to services throughout the council and EDLC, conducting multiple site visits to offer expert guidance, address emerging issues, and assist with the completion of risk assessments.  The team provided a progress review of risk assessments and methods statements for Streetscene and Greenspace, Roads, Fleet, Housing, PM and FM. 

Various teams received assistance through workplace and individual assessments in collaboration with HR colleagues, as well as reviewing First Aids needs assessments.  The team and Manager participated in 2nd and 3rd Tier H&S committee meetings.

Occupational health has focused on clinics for statutory health surveillance assessments for respiratory, hearing and skin and continues to capture Display Screen Equipment assessments.

Fire Extinguisher and Building Manager training were conducted through this period as well as Sub-guardian training for Defibrillators.  Additionally, various other training sessions were covered such as Duty Holder, UFAS, ladder safety, risk assessment and incident reporting. 

The focus continues for Construction Design and Management compliance with site visits, reviewing construction phase plans, risk assessments and method statements for a wide variety of Council Projects. 

To support all Service areas in their CDM works, reviews were undertaken for several refurbishment and repairs works in Council establishments.

Fire Risk Assessments are conducted in accordance with the predetermined schedule.  Officers undertake routine inspections and continue to carry out site visits to address any fire safety concerns and offer expert advice. 

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

Roads Network Operations Teams (including Street Lighting)

The Roads Network Operations Team continue to undertake routine and ad-hoc safety inspection logging defects for further remedial action as required. 

Between 01/04/2025 and 30/09/2025, the Service identified 1347 defects in Quarter 1 and 2 completing 889 repairs within the SLA at 66%%. 

The Service has resurfaced 21 carriageways and 5 footways over the quarter 1 and 2 with an over all target of 47 carriageways and 11 footways. At the end of quarter 2, the Service had completed 44.6% of the targeted carriageways and 45% of the targeted footways in the 2025/26 Resurfacing Programme. 

The Roads Network Operations Team issue a quarterly Technical Note updating members on the progress of the annual resurfacing programme – Technical Notes 2025, Issue 182 - Roads & Neighbourhood Services 2025/26 Carriageway and Footway Resurfacing Programme (Quarter 2 Update) - East Dunbartonshire Council issued in October 2025 and provides details of the locations on this years programme. 

There is a total of 6,730 gullies on primary and key routes within East Dunbartonshire. Between 01 April 2025 and 30 September 2025, a total of 4,830 gullies on these routes were attended for cleaning.

On secondary routes, there are 22,968 gullies in total. During the same reporting period, we cleaned 10,775 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.

Traffic

• Signs to support pavement parking exemptions have been procured and installed 
• 20mph TRO approved and in place for Bearsden/Twechar
• Responding to Lining Requests and refreshing faded road markings and street signs
• Commenting on various licences i.e. street trader licences, public entertainment licences and occasional licences
• Commenting on planning applications
• Disabled Bays TRO public consultation closed, and a report will be submitted to Council
• Signalisation of Drymen and Station Roads, Bearsden complete by August 2025
• Road markings warning drivers of children crossing to schools in various area of the Authority have been installed. These are at collision sites
• Signs to support pavement parking exemptions have been procured and installed
• Public consultation on 20mph speed limit for Bishopbriggs completed with Council Report to follow in December 
• Pedestrian crossings at St Helen’s Primary School (Wester Cleddens) and Oxgang PS (Lammermoor Road) now live. Remaining sites progressing
• 50 road markings warning drivers of children crossing to schools in various area of the Authority have been installed, 50 more are to follow
• Pavement parking legislation is now live throughout East Dunbartonshire Council. Officers are corresponding with residents and colleagues about problematic sites
• JRSO invite letters to participate in scheme sent out to all East Dunbartonshire Council Primary schools 2/9/25
• Disabled bays consultation for next year has been passed at PNCA meeting in August.

• Network Rail have been carrying out remedial works at Drumgrew Roundabout, Twechar in order that a one-year maintenance period can begin prior to adoption
• The Cala site at the old Broomhill Hospital, Kirkintilloch is now adopted. This includes Lanfine Drive, Broomhill Drive, Clugston Court, Cormorant Drive and Wylie Court
• Site visits to monitor progress on developments currently under construction
• Site meetings to inspect developments and identify remedial works prior to adoption by East Dunbartonshire Council
• 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 permits and temporary traffic management permits
• Coordination of future works relating to development sites.
• Temporary Traffic Light invoices processed and invoiced on completed works continuing
• The Persimmon Homes site at Whitegates Kirkintilloch is now adopted. This includes Gresham Drive
• Installation of the new traffic signals at Meadowburn Bishopbriggs has commenced
• Coring samples being taken for the 2025 national coring programme
• Process road opening and temporary traffic management permits. Scottish Road Works Register inspections have been agreed for Q2 and invoices raised. Fixed Penalty Notices have been agreed for September and sent for invoice.

• River Glazert Restoration Project, Lennoxtown Planning Application approved 
• Kelvin Tributaries River Restoration & NFM Project – Consultants contract terminated
• Held meetings with contractors for the flood bund at Castle Circle, Lennoxtown to close out section 75 agreement. Ongoing
• Further survey investigation works for City Deal Team
• Providing advice to customers about ponding and flooding issues
• Dealing with various locations flooded on 15 July 25 in Bishopbriggs and surrounding areas. Climate Ready Park flooding investigations are ongoing with designers. This includes contacting customers and providing flood advice and support
• Tannoch Dr, Milngavie – Drainage improvement works are completed
• Drymen Road / Station Road Bearsden – closure for drainage investigations at junction (completed 15 August in advance of signalling works)
• River Glazert Restoration Project, Lennoxtown- PNCA approved for construction funding and progressing to tender development. Ongoing
• Thorn Drive, Bearsden. Drainage relining underway
• Glenhead Road, Lenzie. Drainage works complete
• Future works planned at Manse Road, Bearsden for October/November and Thomson Drive, Bearsden (this is remedial works at no cost to East Dunbartonshire Council).

• Review & response to abnormal load requests
• Assisting other departments in the assessment of non-council assets

• Emergency repair underway at Burnbrae Bridge, Calfmuir Road following a bridge strike. In addition to the masonry repair, bollards will be installed to give drivers extra warnings

• Procurement process underway for FY25-27 structures framework contract

• SCC10 Cadder Canal bridge works complete

• SUC29 Tower Road bridge parapet repairs complete

• FB62 Milngavie Golf Club footbridge – timber bridge deck and parapet replacement complete

• SAC17 Lochgrog Railway bridge on Wester Way - graffiti painting works undertaken on 4th September

• SAC34 Blacklands Place VRS repair complete on 9th September

• SBC05 Goyle Bridge Japanese knotweed – two treatments completed by 10 September

• SUC09 Burnbrae bollard installation completed 3 October

• SAC08 Park Burn VRS and retaining wall repair planned for 23 - 24 October

• SUC09 Burnbrae approach wall cope installation planned for 30 - 31 October.

• Commencement of the Summer cyclical works
• Street cleansing and mechanical 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
• Countryside verge de-littering started
• Invasive non-native species spraying
• Checking and clearance of culverts
• Play Park inspection 
• Herbicide works in open spaces/schools
• Education and Leisure Trust pitch maintenance, athletic and football initial lining for schools
• Replacement of damaged bins
• Responding to Customer Service Requests and complaints
• Supply and fitting of no dog fouling signs in East Dunbartonshire Council Cemeteries
• Removal of dead animals and excess waste at recycling centres
• Summer cyclical works ongoing
• Mask face fit tests for operatives
• Recruitment for vacant positions
• Herbicide works in open spaces, including Japanese knotweed treatment
• Cutting of flood banking at Iona Way
• Overseeing contracts relating to Verge cut (2nd cut) and hedge cutting
• Flood banking maintenance.

• Bishopbriggs Park – brief complete and with procurement – now out for framework agreement – returns expected in May
• Play Areas – Westerton – brief complete with procurement - now out to framework agreement - returns expected in May
• Play Areas – Kincaid (MOC) - brief complete and with procurement - now out to framework agreement - returns expected in May
• Play Areas – annual external safety inspection complete – repairs ongoing
• Twechar Pump Track – consultation undertaken with community re potential for pump track adjacent to Healthy Living Centre – feedback being
• Cemetery Management Rules – internal review ongoing noting recent wider Scottish Govt consultation – Scottish Govt regs now being finalised and implemented
• Headstones/Memorials Inspection – inspections complete at Old Aisle Cemetery – ‘make safe’ arrangements where required will commence in May, Inspectons have now commenced in Campsie 
• Cadder Cemetery Extension – works ongoing with consultant – initial design being reviewed with first Pre Application event having taken place at Bishopbriggs Library
• Ash Dieback Survey on Roadside – updated survey received – a small number of trees require urgent works – ownership is a mixture of public and private – contact with private owners now made – East Dunbartonshire Council trees addressed. Further analysis of other trees and works ongoing with several notices now sent to private owners to progress
• Schools Estate – tree survey findings now being analysed – orders raised for any priority works over the next 3 months
• Tree Planting – number of tree planting initiatives across the district undertaken - Street Trees, Etive Park, Heather Avenue etc
• Storm Eowyn – significant damage because of the recent storm with hundreds of trees impacted – all emergency works complete however clear up will continues across the district for several months – this remains ongoing
• Climate Ready Park – Allotment works complete - allotments now allocated and opened , pump track complete, trees planted, bund works and reinstatement programme have commenced with completion anticipated in early June
• Community Growing Facilities – progressing improvement works via Shared Prosperity Fund – range of works completed at Jedworth Court, Sense Scotland, Twechar TCA and Kilmardinny Community Garden
• Nature Restoration Fund – projects identified for 25/26 and works will progress from June  
• Lenzie Moss – environmental works undertaken across the moss
• Community Consultations re Management Plans – Lenzie Moss, Whitefield Pond, Cairnhill Woods and Heather Avenue – drafts complete and shared with community groups for final comment
• TCV Partnership – environmental improvement works have commenced on the John Muir Way  - 3 year programme in total
• Clyde Valley Green Network – liaison re East Dunbartonshire Council Wetland Strategy
• Merkland – Scottish Water undertaking infrastructure works to site – now complete  - reinstatement ongoing
• Glazert Project – team input into overall project re trees and biodiversity aspects
• 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
• Play Areas at Angus Avenue/Fir Park - public voting will be undertaken in August to select the preferred bid to thereafter be constructed this financial year 
• Langfaulds Bike Track – resurfaced over the past 4 weeks
• Play Areas – annual external safety inspection now organised – to be undertaken in September this year
• Cadder Cemetery Extension – works ongoing with consultant – Pre Planning POAN now complete
• Langfaulds Cemetery - prestart undertaken with consultants to finalise design works for next phase
• Rosebank Allotments – Officers attended AGM
• Etive Park Allotments – now fully up and running – Officers working with Allotment Holders to create an Allotment Association
• Gruffalo Trail Kilmardinny Loch – sculptures installed around Loch
• Management Plans – Lenzie Moss, Whitefield Pond, Cairnhill Woods and Heather Avenue – now complete and shared with community groups for progressing to actions
• TCV Partnership – environmental improvement works have commenced on the John Muir Way - 3 year programme in total
• Clyde Valley Green Network – liaison re East Dunbartonshire Council Wetland Strategy
• Team working with City Deal Team and Consultants in relation to Masterplan of Bishopbriggs Relief Road/Westerhill
• Langfaulds Cemetery - pre start undertaken with consultants to finalise design works for next phase
• Ash Dieback Survey on Roadside – further survey now undertaken – this will assess level of deterioration across roadside trees
• Milton of Campsie Fairly Trail – complete  - now officially opened
• Storm Eowyn – significant damage as a consequence of the storm with hundreds of trees impacted – all emergency works complete however clear up will continues across the district for a number of months – this remains ongoing
• Storm Floris – number of trees across district impacted – clear up largely complete
• Climate Ready Park – almost complete – final works and reinstatement works now progressing 
• Play Area at Stanley Drive – returns received – currently being evaluated
• Play Areas – annual external safety inspection complete – awaiting reports
• Compost Training Day - Compost Training Day for the Allotment Plot holders at Etive Park
• Canniesburn Sheltered Housing  - creation of 2 raised beds and accessible path works to facilitate food growing
• Heather Avenue – liaison with School re wildflower planting.

• Clearing of culverts to Mugdock Pond and Mugdock Loch
• Creating of new pond at Mugdock Orchard.
• Removing guards from trees and shoring up trees
• Fixing existing fencing and creating new dead hedge fence at Pond BBQ hut
• Preparing rhododendrons for herbicide
• Eding of steps at entry to Walled Garden
• Clearing culvert and ditches on Pietches Path
• Removing chicken wire guards at George’s wood
• Cut up fallen limbs at Gallowhill
• Continuing repairs of Khyber field fence
• Creating new pond at Mugdock Orchard
• Herbiciding of Japanese knotweed and Salmonberry around Mugdock Castle and Craigend Pond
• Corporate volunteer day Birch sapling pulling on Drumclog Moor.
• Glass/Metal litter pick of Quarry, Pietches Moor and Drumclog Moor as a consequence of wildfire in Craigend Quarry.
• Bracken removal conservation volunteer day on Pietches Moor
• 6 Bat surveys
• 5 volunteer days with a total of 52 volunteers and 3 corporate volunteer days with a total of 30 volunteers. During that time period the following was carried out
• Boardwalk upgrades: 15 meters of boardwalk and approach paths upgraded (Peitches) 
• Bracken control: 7,600 metre sq (Peitches) 9,000 metre sq (Drumclog Moor SSSI)    
• Birch seedling removal: 13,500 metre sq area (Peitches)
• Vegetation cut back of path network system throught the Country Park (Park-wide)  
• Weeding of hedges and edging of tarmac (Visitor Centre area)
• Willow fence maintenance (Craigend Pond)
• Path edging (Gallowhill)
• 9 Volunteer days (45 hours) with a total of 41 volunteers
• 4 meters of footpath at Gallowhill have been reinstated following damage from Storm Eowyn
• 7000 meters of Birch saplings removed on Drunclog Moor
• Incursion into the scrub for grassland management of Castlefields, including removal of hawthorn, broom and alder
• Sycamore seedling removal on a section of Craigend Avenue
• Footpath drainage work at Craigend pond
• Over September there were 13 volunteer days (58hrs) with a total of volunteers (7 MCV, 3 Midweek, 2 Corporate, 1 Criminal Justice). During that time-period the following was carried out
• Orchard management (removal of unproductive trees and guard clearance)    
• Reduction of tree crowding (birch/sycamore removal)  
• Grassland management: removal of invasive sycamore/birch from grassland to benefit floristic value (Craigend Field)  
• Grassland management: planting of wildflower plugs (Craigend Paddock)  
• Historic landscape management: sycamore/common raspberry removal (Craigend Avenue)  
• Historic building management: clearance of Domestic Range area to raise the castle’s profile (Mugdock Castle). 

• Initial design meeting was held with Corporate Communications regarding decorative boundary in Walled Garden project
• BBQ shelter – Completion certificate for the project has been applied for. Marketing campaign is ready to launch. Hedging is to be completed at Gallowhill BBQ hut, and general tidying is required at Pond BBQ hut. The marketing design has been completed and will be launched in June.
• Walled Garden Volunteer Project has been launched with the appointment of a new team Member into the role
• Follow up design meeting was held with Corporate Communications regarding the Walled Garden Decorative Boundary
• BBQ shelter: Open for bookings 
• Decorative screen: agreement reached with adjacent commercial tenants for location and design, quotes being sought for fabrication following receipt of completed design
• On-going issues with septic tank being addressed by Corporate assets team
• Play Area: Pre Start meeting conducted with Kompan
• Decorative screen: Design shared with Joint Management Committee. Assistance by Procurement with contract tender. Application for additional funds to provide lighting.
• Walled Garden volunteering included box hedge removal and replant, along with continuing the painting of the wall
• On-going issues with septic tank being addressed by corporate assets team. 

2025/26 Quarter 1 & 2 Figures 

• The implementation of the 3 weekly residual collection started on Sunday 30th March 2025  
•  Waste Advisors have been working alongside the frontline refuse crews, tagging bins to remind residents of the changes to the collection frequency and answering any questions
• The team have been visiting residents to provide waste management support to those who have been struggling with the changes to the collection frequency
• There was 79 waste diaries distributed to residents who requested additional capacity for their waste generated, the diaries are aimed at supporting residents in analysing the household waste and consider other means for recycling
• There were 14 new residential applications accepted for additional general waste capacity on the grounds of medical requirements.
• The Waste Technical team attended the Millersneuk Primary School Eco Committee to speak to the pupils and discuss how the service could support the school in recycling and waste management
• Waste Officers have been out in the schools, attending a session with Baljaffray Primary School Eco-committee to educate and update the pupils on the changes in waste services and material streams
• The service met with 3 of its recycling contractors, Biffa Waste, Saica Natur and Levenseat to discuss current contractual arrangements and opportunities to improve recycling performance
• The service participated in the collaborative procurement engagement session led by Solace/Improvement Service. There was discussion around joint working opportunities and potential workstreams as we move forward. Further meeting to be scheduled in August
• The team supported the Lenzie Community Festival and Milngavie BID event with the provision of both refuse and recycling bins
• The Technical Support team attended the Oakburn Gardens, Sheltered Housing residents forum and have now introduced a new recycling collection service
• The Garden Waste Permits continue to roll out, with 82 being purchased in September.  This brought the total figures at this time to 30,960 permits sold to residents
•  Asbestos training was rolled out for employees at both our Mavis Valley Recycling Centre and to our Technical Support team.  This is aimed to mitigate the risk of asbestos entering any of the municipal waste and recycling streams
• Fire Warden Training was update for several employees at Hilton Depot
• The team have been working closely with our internal audit team to review the processes involved in the Garden Waste Permit scheme
• Work took place across the team in the completion of the Zero Waste Scotland Data Gathering exercise
• APSE submission was prepared and submitted for Waste Services
• Gas and Leachate Monitoring was carried out by the team at the old Mavis Valley landfill site, this information was submitted to Sepa for review
• The Service has responsibility for collecting an estimated 14,000 bins per day.  Regrettably, the Service misses’ bins and this is anticipated given the volume of bins collected daily.  There can be various reasons for this, crew oversight, roadworks, volumes of waste on a route, parked cars, vehicle breakdown or even turnaround times at our various contractor facilities that we experienced only this week
• The under noted table confirms the number of missed and the completion rate each month.

• 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 
• The team carried out a variety of gate checks, any issues that were identified were reported to the relevant management team
• Monthly audits have been implemented to ensure MOT station 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
• The fleet team attended the APSE Fleet, Waste and Grounds Seminar, Key speakers included Victoria Davies the Welsh Traffic Commissioner, Neil Barlow, Head of Vehicle Policy & Engineering, DVSA, Phil Lloyd, Head of Engineering Policy, Logistics UK, topics covered were Transport Responsibilities and Compliance and Navigating Drug and Alcohol Policy - Including Understanding Testing Regimes and their Impact
• The recruitment process has been completed for the workshop team; this team is now fully staffed. We are recruiting for 3 additional drivers for the internal transport team to reduce the costs associated with private hire taxis
• Training is ongoing for the mechanics to ensure we stay up to date with best practices and technological advancements
• PSV and HGV driver training has been arranged for 2 mechanics
• Work is ongoing to replace the fleet management system
• The Capital Replacement programme for vehicles/plant has been completed for financial year 25/26.

• Maintain the improvement on the percentage of responsive road repairs which has recently improved.
• The percentage of streetlighting repairs is below the target of 95%, but again this is influenced by the Services ability to respond when resources are below required levels
• The percentage of special uplifts completed within 28 working days has been impacted throughout the first two quarters due to resourcing levels. However, work is ongoing to address concerns and backfill vacancies within the service
• Increase the percentage of municipal waste collected by the authority which is recycled to meet the 55% target
• Reduce the percentage of noticing failures reported to the Road Works Commissioner to below the 4% target.