Dear All
Welcome to this latest edition of our Depute Chief Executive Update. As always, I hope that you and your families are safe and well. Weather watch over the past fortnight has seen on occasion all four seasons in a day! Who would have thought we would still be gritting well in to April? I hope we have now seen the last of freezing conditions, but my thanks go out once again to all the gritting and support teams for their efforts this year.
Our Council elections take place in just over three weeks, on Thursday 5 May. The notice of poll has been published on the Local Elections May 2022 web page on the Council website, announcing who will be standing in each of the Council’s seven wards. The election team has been busy with all the preparations required to ensure that the election here runs smoothly and safely. With COVID-19 infection levels remaining high, plans are in place to ensure there are safety mitigations across all of our polling places and at the election count. A video on what to expect at your polling station is being prepared – watch out for it on our social media channels over the next week or so.
Now on with our regular updates:
News from the Council
World Parkinson’s Day
Today (Monday 11 April) is World Parkinson’s Day, an international day of awareness raising for Parkinson’s Disease. Parkinson’s disease is a progressive neurological disorder and is the fastest growing neurological condition in the world. We are lighting up five of our landmark buildings blue – Bearsden Hall, Bishopbriggs Library & Hub, Lennoxtown Community Hub, Milngavie Town Hall and William Patrick Library - to help raise awareness of the condition. You can find out more, including details of how to donate or raise funds, on the Parkinson’s UK website.
Local Government Elections 2022
As I mentioned above, the local government elections are taking in just three weeks. Polling stations open at 7am on Thursday 5 May and close at 10pm. Anyone who has not yet registered to vote has just one more week to ensure they are on the electoral register. You can do this online at the gov.uk register to vote webpage, but must do so by 11.59pm on Monday 18 April.
The Leisuredrome in Bishopbriggs will once again be the venue for the East Dunbartonshire Council count, which takes place on Friday 6 May. The entire centre will be closed from 5pm on Thursday 5 May until 8am on Saturday 7 May and in addition to that, the sports hall will be closed from 5pm on Saturday 30 April through to 8am on Sunday 8 May to enable the electronic counting equipment to be set up.
Support for Refugees
At the Council meeting on Thursday 31 March, the Council agreed to extend the previous commitment to Syrian and to Afghan refugees to include all global humanitarian crises, including the current situation in Ukraine. The decision recognised the role the Council plays in co-ordinating wrap around care and support for all refuges in this area, including those where the Council also provides accommodation. You can read more on that Council decision in the news release issued following the Council meeting.
Climate Action Commitments
The Council also agreed to further climate and carbon reduction actions when it met on 31 March. Continuing the momentum from the UN Climate summit in Glasgow towards the end of last year, these latest actions include a strategy for decarbonising our Council buildings, looking at how to reduce waste from our roads maintenance and road repair actions and peatland and river restoration projects. You can read the full detail in the news release published on our website.
Right Bin? – Put it in!
In a related theme, our waste campaign confirming that more plastics than ever can now be recycled in East Dunbartonshire continues this month. The message ‘right bin? – put it in!’ encourages residents to recycle wherever possible and to ensure that waste is put in to the correct bin. In addition to the promotion on our website and social media channels, you should be able to spot our campaign message throughout the area in the next few weeks – on billboards, advertising stands and even on buses. Diverting waste from landfill to recycling is also part of our Climate Action Plan and carbon reduction commitments.
Employee Wellbeing
Healthy Working Lives (HWL) news for April
The April 2022 Healthy Working lives update is live on the Employee Zone of the website, with news of the themes and campaigns that we are promoting this month. Key themes for April include Stress Awareness month and Bowel Awareness month and you can read more on these, with links to helpful further information, in the April update.
A full range of helpful wellbeing information and advice, on a wide range of topics, is available on the Wellbeing page of our Employee Zone.
Our Employee Assistance Programme also includes a free 24 hour confidential helpline/support service ‘Time for Talking’. Full details of the service and how to access it can be found on our Employee Assistance Programme page in the Employee Zone. There is a wealth of information and support available on all aspects of life.
Other News….
Census Day
There is still time to complete Scotland’s census – our once in a decade count of the population. Whilst Census Day was Sunday 20 March, households have until 1 May to complete their census return. You should have received your census instructions through the post and a reminder if you have not yet completed it. If you need more information or support, please visit the Scotland’s Census website.
Dates for your Diary
1-30 April Stress Awareness month
1-30 April Bowel Awareness month
18 April Deadline for registering to vote in the local government elections
28 April On your feet day
28 April International Workers’ Memorial Day
5 May Scottish Local Government elections
6 May East Dunbartonshire Local Government election count
19 May Statutory Meeting to establish new Council
And finally...
As always, my continued thanks to you all – stay safe and keep well. The next DCE Update will be in a fortnight’s time, week beginning Monday 25 April.
Ann