1. How Good is Our Service - August 2023
  2. How Good is Our Service - August 2023

How Good is Our Service - August 2023

Monthly Performance Report

On this page you will find information on:

Assets and Facilities

100% of operational properties that required a gas safety record had a gas safety check and record completed by the anniversary date - non housing, compared with a target of 100% 100% of properties that required a gas safety record had a gas safety check and record completed by the anniversary date, compared with target of 100% 97% of voids returned within timescales, compared with a target of 85%

Property Maintenance

Voids performance has increased in August to 97% from 80.5% in July exceeding our overall target of 85%. We continue to look at ways of maintaining and enhancing performance going forward.

Property Maintenance have achieved our target of 100% for Gas Servicing in August with 420 properties serviced in the month. We continue to achieve our target each month and we are confident this will continue throughout the remainder of the year.

Kitchen, Bathroom, Heating and Roofing upgrade programmes are ongoing, and progress continues in carrying out reactive and refurbishment works across the education and non-housing stock, with decoration works ongoing across the school estate.

Facilities Management

The rollout of the new FM structure is nearing conclusion and employee displacement meetings are continuing with the aim of securing suitable alternative positions for displaced employees. Recruitment of all vacant positions is on-going and a further recruitment exercise was held at the Canal Festival advertising vacant posts and career opportunities.

A review of catering consultation responses was carried out during the summer period and this shaped the revised school lunch menu which was implemented at the start of the new term in August. Action plans were created and issued to Team Leaders identifying focus areas to improve the uptake of school meals in those schools which received negative responses.

The uptake of free school meals in Primary schools for the month of August was below target, there was a delay with the recording of free meal entitlements on the appropriate system and this has affected the uptake stats for this period. This has been rectified and accurate reporting will be available next period. The target for free school meals was achieved in Secondary schools.

The Service continues to work with suppliers to source alternative food products, ensuring the menu complies with the revised regulations and meets all nutritional standards.

The service was awarded the Food For Life Served Here Bronze Award in December and we continue to work with the Soil Association to achieve the Silver award status.

Estates

The Estates service has robust measures in place to monitor performance with regards gas safety compliance across the Operational Estate. Officers continue to progress reactive repairs across the Education and Operational Estate on a daily basis, with over 150-200 repairs processed on average every month through Property Maintenance or our external contractors. Phase 1 of the Defibrillator project commenced with defibrillators being installed across all Education premises for the beginning of the new term. Phase 2 includes the installation and registering of the external defibrillators with “the Circuit”, which will be concluded by end of September.

The Quality Assurance team continue to inspect cleaning standards across the educational estate, with over 40 assets inspected and reports produced monthly. 

Estates Management continue to market vacant premises within the non-operational estate. At present the non-operational estate is over 95% occupied. 

Officers continue to progress disposals with colleagues in Legal Services to ensure that capital receipts are delivered and ongoing liabilities i.e. non-domestic rates, utilities, security etc are reduced. The Community Asset Transfer of Antermony Loch completed at the end of August; the new owners Antermony Development Trust will provide numerous community benefits which will be monitored and reviewed annually.

Development & Investment

The Service continues to progress a wide range of capital projects both in pre-construction and construction phases. Good progress continues to be made in delivering Phase 2 of the Allander Leisure Centre (est. completion November 2023). 

Projects at Balmuildy, Milngavie and Bearsden Primary Schools are all progressing towards planning applications. Following Council approval in December, a feasibility review into the development of a new-build replacement primary school and community facilities on the Westerton Hall site, incorporating a new Westerton Primary School, and an assessment of the feasibility of a new-build school on the existing site, is now underway and will report back to Council later in the year. The project at Twechar Canalside, forming a new Community Outdoor Pursuits Centre and affordable housing development, continues to progress through the pre-construction phase. Pre-construction surveys were undertaken across all sites during Summer 2023. Initial works have commenced at Lennoxtown High Park from early August 2023, with completion anticipated by end February 2024.

Development proposals for the next phase of the Council’s Affordable Housing Investment Programme (comprising up to 11 sites across the area) are nearing completion of RIBA Stage 3, with a Stage 1 Report due for consideration by Council later in 2023.

Capital projects across the Council’s existing Affordable Housing stock, including kitchen and bathroom replacement, roof replacement, external wall insulation projects and central heating replacement continue to progress across the area, as have a wide range of projects across the operational estate, including the roof replacement at Craigdhu Primary School. The project to install additional classroom capacity at Bishopbriggs Academy through the installation of two modular classrooms was complete by the start of the school term in August 2023.

The Service continues to develop the next phase of a building decarbonisation strategy for the school estate, operational estate and for the existing affordable housing stock, with a variety of surveys, pilot projects and further feasibility reviews planned throughout the financial year and due to inform the next update to the Council’s Corporate Asset Management Plan and Strategic Housing Investment Plan in 2024/25.

Health & Safety

The Health and Safety Team as a corporate service undertakes incident report investigations and recording of safety and health data throughout council services, including RIDDOR, following PDCA cycle, where continuous improvement is sought in all council operations. Link with HR and other services are part of the process. The SP01 incident reporting procedure where the reporting process is mapped was recently finalised.

In August, over 40 CDM H&S Client and Principal Designer site compliance visits were carried out, with traffic and public interface being major points of focus and intervention. In addition, Property Maintenance H&S inspections were also carried out.

Health and safety depot inspections were completed at Auld Aisle, Broomhill, Cadder, Campsie, Langfaulds, Mugdock, Old Kilpatrick and Torrance as part of Streetscene and Greenspace health and safety arrangements and risk assessment review. Hilton depot will be undertaken in September.

Occupational health assistance was provided to multiple departments within the council to monitor potential exposure to vulnerable employees along with health surveillance appointments for Roads/Greenspace and Streetscene and Hep B immunisation. Several individual risk assessments, DSE and workplace assessments were carried out to support employees in Education and other corporate services.

Training during the month of August was focused on Harness training for FM staff to avoid falls from height when setting up/de-rigging the telescopic seating banks, continue with UFAS training to include Dalkia staff in our schools, Working at Heights and Asbestos Awareness training for various teams across multiple dates.

The Fire Safety Team continues to carry out Fire Risk Assessments (FSRAs) as per scheduled programme and cooperating with other services in response to FSRA queries and general fire safety guidance requests including writing emergency evacuation plans.

Key Achievements / Areas of Focus

  • Achieved 100% compliance for Gas Servicing with focus on this continuing going forward.
  • Enhanced level of performance in void turnaround times with 97% of properties completed within our target timescales
  • Kitchen, Bathroom, Central Heating and Roofing upgrade programmes ongoing with positive feedback being received from tenants across all contracts.
  • Continue to monitor and improve void turnaround times with a view to maintaining and exceeding performance target.
  • Assess and improve functionality of Total Mobile and the integration with Servitor to enable a more streamlined and efficient service. Continue to monitor and increase levels of performance in non-emergency reactive repairs.
  • Improve communications with customers and stakeholders to ensure the highest level of service delivery.
  • Continue to utilise robust reporting mechanisms for enhanced performance and service delivery.
  • Continue to carry out the installation of Smoke & Heat alarms for tenants and residents in East Dunbartonshire.
  • Progress decoration works across school estate.
  • 100% of Operational Assets requiring a Gas Safety check within the year’s anniversary of the previous check are completed.
  • Schedule in the upcoming Gas Safety Checks, which are required during August and September with contractors.
  • Conclude the installation of the defibrillators across the Council’s School and Operational Estate.
  • Implement new processes on the back of the UFAS Guidance change imposed by the SFRS.
  • Continued progress in the delivery of capital works in the Council’s existing Affordable Housing estate, including kitchen/bathroom replacement.
  • Improve uptake of nutritious school meals.
  • Improve communications with customers and stakeholders to ensure the highest level of service delivery.
  • Reduce FM overtime.
  • Progress recruitment exercises to fill identified vacant FM positions.
  • Risk Assessment completed for Provost Pentathlon.
  • Assisted Assets surveying team in a risk assessment for use of drones.
  • Creation of SP47 AED - Defibrillator procedure to ensure a robust process to reflect the installation and provision of defibrillators throughout the council. In addition, creation of SP18 Provision of First Aid, the council’s new standard for first aid provision.

Community Services

111 targeted decriminalised parking enforcement initiatives and patrols in response to complaints, service requests and intelligence received, compared with a target of 100 92% of environmental health high risk food safety inspections and public health service request responses delivered within target timescales, compared with a target of 85% Rent loss due to void properties £25,022.58, compared with a target of £10,833.00 Average length of time taken to re-let properties in the last year, 35.6days, compared with a target of 60 days

Environmental Health, Trading Standards and Community Safety Teams

The Community Protection Service delivers on a broad statutory remit, with delivery measures centred on protecting public health and safety, well-being and consumer protection. During the course of August 2023, the service continued to engage in the local Co-Production arrangement with Police Scotland. This resulted in a significant amount of joint work and coordinated activity to protect local communities across the East Dunbartonshire area. The service also continued to develop intelligence led approaches for all areas of work in order to target local public health, community safety and consumer protection activity towards the areas of greatest need, risk and priority.

The Environmental Health Team was engaged in the delivery of essential public health services throughout the reporting period in order to protect the community from hazards in the environment and to regulate and facilitate the growth of responsible businesses. The service was in demand for a range of service requests from the public as well as responding to internal partners in Planning and Licensing for new developments and seasonal events respectively. 

The Trading Standards Team was engaged in the delivery of essential consumer protection and licensing services to local consumers and businesses to maintain and protect a fair-trading environment in East Dunbartonshire. Priority activity in August included work to develop the recently introduced East Dunbartonshire Trusted Trader Scheme, with focus being placed upon local business participation. Tobacco and Nicotine Vapour Products compliance work was delivered during the reporting period. The Licensing Advisers and Trading Standards Officers in the team also continued to deliver a wide range of routine inspection and project activity at a range of business premises across the area.

The Community Safety Team continued to deliver a broad range of front-line work for the benefit of local communities during the course of the reporting period, working closely with a range of colleagues and key partners to successfully deliver appropriate interventions and to make our local communities safer. Officers from the team were engaged in the delivery of services in relation to community engagement/support, antisocial behaviour, youth disorder, neighbour disputes, environmental incivilities, dog control, decriminalised parking enforcement, fly-tipping, mediation, pest control and mobile CCTV. The Community Wardens have also been developing further links within the local communities they serve, getting involved in a number of initiatives and events that have been taking place across the Council area.

Community Planning and Partnerships Team

The team continue to deliver the resettlement agenda, supporting individuals and families to successful integration and empowerment of displaced individuals, by providing a tailored case management approach.

Using a community learning and development approach, the team continue to connect, engage, and involve communities in decision-making processes, particularly those affected by inequalities, to ensure their voices are heard and needs met.

Through effective partnership working with the Grants Advisory Committee, a revised community grant scheme was launched 26th June 2023. The team have been actively promoting the grant scheme through various channels, and have been inundated with applications. We have been providing dedicated support to individuals and organisations, addressing enquiries and clarifying application requirements promptly. The wide range of applications from across East Dunbartonshire are currently being reviewed and assessed.

Through the targeted work within our Locality areas, the team continue to promote lifelong learning, skills development, and community empowerment. This includes the delivery of Pockets, Places, and Prosperity programme within our Locality areas.

The team remain steadfast in promoting equality, diversity and inclusion and actively collaborating with local organisations to plan and deliver initiatives targeting discrimination.

Community Testing/Vaccination Team

The team have been working diligently to ensure the smooth delivery of the vaccination programmes to our community. With the experience gained from previous winter programmes, we have developed comprehensive plans to ensure the safe and efficient delivery of the winter vaccination programme, starting September 2023. Our focus remains on protecting the health and wellbeing of our communities during this critical time.

Housing Operations – Estates, and Homelessness and Prevention Teams

Housing manages 3827 social rented properties; 3774 of these are mainstream accommodation and 53 are used for Homeless Temporary Accommodation. The service also manages 66 Lead Tenancies which are rented from either private landlords (45) or Housing Associations (21), to assist with accommodating homeless households.

At present, the Housing list for East Dunbartonshire has 2291 applications (a review recently undertaken reduced this from 3405 applications), made up of the following:

General Waiting list 630 applicants waiting (34 currently 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 435 applicants (27 currently 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 211 applicants (31 currently 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 10 applicants (2 currently on offer)

(Urgent medical)

(Applicants who are unable to remain in their current home due to their medical condition. This queue allows the applicant to choose which area, house type etc. they would like to move to).

Within the last month, 22 properties have been let or re-let; 20 mainstream, 2 HRH-HRA (temporary accommodation changed to mainstream).

21 were general need properties and 1 was sheltered.

They were let to the following queues:

  • 6 were let to applicants on the transfer queue.
  • 5 were let to applicants on the general waiting list queue.
  • 11 were let to applicants on the priority homeless queue.

Key Achievements / Areas of Focus

Community Protection Service

Environmental Health, Trading Standards and Community Safety Teams

  • Delivery of effective services on a flexible basis in order 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 in order to deliver effective services in line with relevant corporate outcomes and with positive performance being reported.
  • Delivery of regulatory services that assist with economic recovery and that are designed to support local businesses and communities.
  • Approval of the EH Food Service Plan 2023-24 and the EH Health and Safety Service Plan 2023-24 - these plans detail the arrangements for carrying out the council’s statutory duties under food safety and health and safety legislation during the course of the current reporting year. 
  • Production of a draft response for the Scottish Government consultation on Licensing of Activities Involving Animals – for approval by Committee and onward submission in September 2023. 
  • During routine microbiological sampling of products from a cooked meat manufacturer an unsatisfactory result was obtained. This resulted in an Environmental Health Officer contacting the business to ensure products were not sold to customers and to recall any products that were on sale. A follow-up visit was made to the food business for investigation and further samples obtained. 
  • Submission of the Annual Progress Report on Air Quality in East Dunbartonshire Council to SEPA and the Scottish Government.
  • Continued delivery of targeted patrols within our local communities aimed at tackling an increase in reports of low-level incivilities (particularly dog fouling and littering).
  • Delivery of patrols by our Community Wardens to tackle the problem of youth disorder and antisocial behaviour within our communities, with particular focus currently being within the Hillhead area as well as a number of our primary schools.
  • Youth diversionary football sessions managed and run by the Community Wardens in Lennoxtown, Milton of Campsie and Hillhead are continuing, with numbers in attendance on the increase.
  • Delivery of interventions and appropriate outcomes for a number of young persons referred to the Early & Effective Intervention Group which is coordinated and chaired by the Community Safety Team.
  • Delivery of Community Warden support to the New Roots Gardening project which seeks to address social isolation and difficulties in participation whilst trying to help build independent living skills for those with a learning disability. The Community Wardens assist with the project in both the Twechar and Milngavie areas. 
  • Continued delivery of a domestic night noise service every weekend Friday – Sunday 2000 – 0400 hrs, with appropriate responses being delivered in relation to reports / complaints of noise nuisance within residential properties. 
  • Newly formed ED Trusted Trader Scheme promoted within East Dunbartonshire by the Council and local partners - the scheme is overseen by Trading Standards and aims to increase customer confidence by helping people find reliable traders, promote good practice within local businesses, protect residents from doorstep crime, and help generate business for local companies.
  • Delivery of on-going workplan activity by Trading Standards to maintain local business compliance with legislative requirements relating to tobacco and nicotine vapour products.
  • Delivery of targeted activity by the Licensing Advisers to maintain local business compliance with legislative requirements relating to relevant licensing conditions.

Community Planning and Partnership Team

  • The team are actively engaged in collaboration with stakeholders and partners to deliver priorities of our Locality area communities.
  • Successful Round 1 of the revised community grant scheme open over the month of July. Thereafter, and through August, then all applications are being checked and assessed against the criteria by the Community Planning Team, and then by the Grants Advisory Committee (GAC), in advance of reports to Community Planning Partnership Board. Team colleagues continue to offer targeted, responsive support to applicants.
  • Delivered Pockets, Places and Prosperity programmes in Auchinairn, Hillhead and Harestanes.
  • In collaboration with children and young people integrating into our communities, planned an engaging, interactive focus session to ensure the voice of “new scots” children and young people voices are heard.
  • Continue to support Empowered to create an interactive and engaging 16 Days of Action campaign to raise awareness of domestic abuse, enabling increased understanding of how to report and where individuals can access support.
  • Focused on developing lived experience forum using human approach.
  • Collaboratively work with partners to coordinate a successful Funder Fair, meeting the identified needs of the local community and third sector organisations, which will be delivered in November 2023.

Community Testing/ Vaccination Team

  • The new vaccination venue of Merkland School in Kirkintilloch is being prepared for the start of the winter programme, including decant of all equipment and facilities from Kirkintilloch Town Hall. Milngavie Town Hall continues to be used for vaccination programmes.
  • Working with NHS GGC Board, then planning and arrangements underway to deliver the winter vaccination programme, commencing September, which will offer COVID booster and Flu to eligible individuals.

Housing Operations – Estates

Key Achievements

  • 16 new anti-social cases received.
  • 24 open anti-social cases resolved.
  • 4 nominations sent to Registered Social Landlords to be considered for allocation to their stock.
  • Percentage of tenancy sustainment was 97%, which is an increase from 92% in July.
  • Monthly Housing Liaison meeting attended to discuss cases with Social Work, Antisocial Team and Police Scotland.
  • Monthly meeting with Police Scotland and Community Safety to discuss more serious anti-social cases.
  • Monthly attendance at East Dunbartonshire Hoarding & Self-Neglect Working Group.

Areas of focus

  • Percentage of tenancies refused was 30%. This is a slight increase from 28% in July.
  • Void rent loss has increased, joint working with the void and rewire/asbestos teams continues.
  • Involvement by internal audit into the management of housing dampness and mould has been ongoing in 2023.
  • Identify training needs and hold quarterly sessions for reviewing policies and procedures with teams.

Homelessness & Prevention

Key Achievements

  • 32 homeless applications taken.
  • No homeless applicants waiting offer of settled accommodation longer than 3 years.
  • Drop in sessions and budget friendly cooking lessons successfully continue at Project 101 (support service for people aged between 14 to 25).
  • Continued work with young people in creating partnerships locally, to assist with employability skills and to gain employment, while also helping with tenancy sustainment.

Areas of focus

  • Demand for temporary accommodation in the area is high. Temporary Accommodation Officers endeavour to turn around void properties promptly during void period. 
  • The Homelessness Team continue to monitor the impact following removal of “local connection"

Customer Services and Organisational Development

It took an average of 3.21 minutes to answer calls within Customer Services, compared with a target of 3 minutes

Communications & Engagement

Key areas of focus in August for the Communications & Engagement Team included the communications to promote the return of the Kirkintilloch Canal Festival, including the launch and awareness raising of the Provost’s Canal Festival fundraising pentathlon. Preparations were also made to promote the new Woodland View ASN school which opened in August, including a ‘sneak peek’ video of the fantastic new facility. Media relations activity was up from July though still quiet following recess with 11 media releases issued (7 in July), four photocalls (nine in July), and 16 media enquiries (five in July) received over the month. All releases are on the Council website news section and the local and national regional coverage achieved equated to an equivalent advertising value of £7.3k (£2.6k in July). Social media posts continued to generate good interaction across a range of themes. The top three posts for engagement on Facebook in August were all in relation to the new ASN school opening. Top three Twitter posts were in relation to the UCI World Cycling Championships taking place in the area, new lunch menus being launched in schools and the Climate Ready Park works beginning in Bishopbriggs. Most watched videos on YouTube were those on the Kirkintilloch Canal Festival and Facebook were about food waste recycling campaign and the new ASN school opening.

Corporate Performance

In August 2023, the Corporate Performance and Research team continued to fulfil required duties in relation to reporting of performance and risk management at a corporate level and provision of service level data and statistical support. The team also continues to ensure the Council has adequate insurance arrangements in place, acting as a point of escalation in regards to any claims made. All business-as-usual work was completed within agreed timescales.

Customer Services

Throughout August the Customer Services team continued to deliver customer services across all channels. A further challenging month for Agent turnover meant the call response time target was unable to be met, however new recruits beginning next month will help to bring it back on track later in the Quarter. Training of new recruits and refresher training for all Agents continues to be a priority focus. In the 24/7 ERC, preparation for the migration from analogue to digital phone lines continues, including significant data cleansing. A total of 129 direct messages through social media were received and actioned (80 Facebook, 13 Twitter, 36 Instagram) and a total of 106 direct messages were sent (92 Facebook, 3 Twitter and 11 Instagram). There was a significant decrease in Twitter direct engagement, which will continue to be monitored and may coincide with the renaming of Twitter as X. Face to face appointment demands, including registration appointments, continued to be met in the four Community Hubs.

Human Resources & Organisational Development

The Human Resources & Organisational Teams lead on workforce centred activities including, policy development, resourcing, workforce and succession planning, workforce analytics, people development, Job Evaluation, attendance and wellbeing improvement as well as providing strategic and operational employee relations support including case management and partnership working. In August, the team continued engagement with the Trade Unions on strategic and operation HR initiatives. They also continued to provide support for employees and managers on HR policy based guidance and support in attendance on Employee Relations case work

Key Achievements / Areas of Focus

Communications & Engagement

  • Promotion of EDLC’s Athlete Performance Programme including press release and social media led to all 30 places being filled generating an income of £10,710.
  • Delivered communications and design work for the Kirkintilloch Canal Festival including banners, signage, posters, press releases, social media and website updates.
  • Co-ordinated the opening of Woodland View school with photocall, press release, creation of new website and social media.
  • Design of the Integrated Children Service’s Plan.
  • Supported the launch of the Count Me In numeracy project including design of a new logo, posters, press release, website updates and social media.
  • Launch of two consultations – Proposal to relocate the Secondary Wellbeing Support Service and Hillhead Canal Basin Heritage project – including creation of online and paper surveys, web updates, press releases and social media.

Corporate Performance

  • Validation and submission of 2022/23 LGBF Performance Indicators to the Improvement Service.
  • Fees and Charges research exercise continued in relation to future budget setting.
  • A review of the Councils corporate fees and charges register was undertaken.
  • Continued assistance provided to the change team in relation to the rollout of Fusion.
  • Validation of SOURCE files undertaken on behalf of Public Health Scotland in advance of data publication.
  • Preparation of annual Local Government Framework Benchmarking report for September meeting of Council.
  • Revision of performance and risk management frameworks was undertaken to align to the revised Council structures.
  • Work on the further development of the social care persons at risk database.
  • Development work undertaken in advance of the introduction of the new child protection minimum dataset.
  • Work progressed with legal services and the Information management team to ensure privacy statements for data support in relation to social work data support are fit for purpose.

Customer Services

  • Recruitment of new agents continued in August to bring ERC Agent and Customer Service Agent numbers to full compliment
  • Ongoing training for new starts and refresher training for existing Customer Service and ERC Agents
  • Continued CCTV monitoring in the ERC and participation in the project to replace CCTV infrastructure and monitoring equipment
  • Continuing with Netcall telephony upgrade to improve call handling and performance management and in readiness for new Netcall CRM
  • Contributing to the CRM replacement project to deliver a new and improved customer relationship management system that will enhance efficiency and service delivery.
  • Contributing to the Analogue to Digital project for call response handling in ERC.

Human Resources & Organisational Development

  • Within Payroll Services the team has maintained and processed the payover of six pay runs within timescales, with the completion of a series of statutory reports and preparation of SPPA annual return.
  • Support work with Auditors in relation to EDLCT and the Council.
  • The People Development team delivered 18 sessions across 11 topics including SMART Working, H&S, EDC Policy sessions & Leadership topics.
  • In total 166 delegates received training, across 16 topics, via 24 sessions in August 2023.
  • Ongoing work to support the EDC Moodle e-learning platform including configuration of programs/courses, dynamic rules, system testing, user configuration & reporting.
  • Investigation & practise with the e-learning authoring tool Articulate.
  • Working on LGV Apprenticeship, NEC4, Driver CPC and ongoing compliance with certifications.
  • Working with services, undertaken a series of Job Evaluation interviews and review of role profiles.
  • Consultation with Health & Safety to review completed risk assessments and identify skills gaps and future legislative requirements.

East Dunbartonshire Leisure and Culture Trust

 EDLC had a total of 13,602 Gym Direct Debit Memberships, compared with a target of 11,700

Leisure Centres

Period 5

Target: 84,451
Actual: 94,466

Detail Actual Allander Kirkintilloch Leisuredrome
Wetside 38,592 16,406 7,816 14,370
Dryside 55,874 21,983 16,324 17,567
Total 94,466 38,389 24,140 31,937

Libraries

For period 5 there were 24,480 visits in person and digital usage was 47,175, totalling 71,655. This represents 111% of the overall target for the period

Period 5

Detail Actual Target Actual as % of target
Physical 24,480 22,769 108% 
Digital 47,175 41,956 112% 
Total 71,655 64,725 111%

Both physical visits and digital usage continue to exceed targets and expectations. This is partly due to the considerable increase in delivery from the Children & Families Team which is now at, almost, full FTE.

The cost-of-living crisis may also be continuing to have an impact, with residents taking advantage of the numerous free services offered by Libraries.

Museums

For period 5 there were 2,225 visits and digital usage was 3,072, totalling 5,279. This represents 130% of the overall target for the period.

Period 5 included the return of The Canal Festival in Kirkintilloch, with attracted 900 visitors to the Auld Kirk Museum on the Sunday, which is normally a closed day. The visits for this day alone, accounts for 40% of the total footfall for the period. Digital usage continues to exceed targets, with the new online collections catalogue proving very popular. During period 5 the online catalogue received 1,895 searches, which represents 62% of the total digital usage for the period.

Period 5

Target: 4,077
Actual: 5,297

Detail Actual Target Actual as % of target
Physical 2,225  2,086  107% 
Digital 3,072  1,991 154%
Total 5,297 4,077 130%

Sports Development

Over 350 people took part in a range of activities including football, gymnastics, multi-sport camps and swimming lessons during the last 2 weeks of a successful Summer Programme. Term time classes then resumed on the 14th August and despite the many changes for children transitioning between age groups during this period, term time members remained consistent at 2,850.

Key Achievements / Areas of Focus

Leisure Centres

LD and Huntershill Sports Hub – At the start of August Huntershill Sports Hub welcomed SAMH, SportScotland and Sir Chris Hoy to renew a four year partnership between SAMH and SportScotland. The event was very well attended and recognised the success of local athletics club Springburn Harriers.

Sports Development

Recruitment to boost membership on the Athlete Performance Programme began this month for both Allander and Kirkintilloch with a positive response. Coaches will now work with athletes to begin their initial programme. Meanwhile, one of our existing athletes had a successful weekend at the beginning of the month winning the fastest racer overall during a 2 day alpine skiing event. Grace also won fastest girl for East Coast and West Coast individually while competing in the U16 events.

Work began to increase the number of classes for term time swimming lessons, with places being filled from holiday programme participants.

We have added several new sports coaches to our football and swimming teams and hope to recruit more in the coming months.

Education

Attendance rates in secondary schools 93.42%, compared with a target of 92% Attendance rates in primary schools 97.17%, compared with a target of 92% Exclusion rates of young people in secondary schools (days lost) 40, compared with a target of 25 Exclusion rates of children in primary schools (days lost), compared with a target of 10

The Service made good progress against priorities in the Business Improvement Plan (BIP) 2023-2026.

Key achievements include:

  • The new £34.9M Woodland View School opened, welcoming 201 children and young people into a purpose-built school, designed to meet the social, emotional, learning and medical needs of learners who require a standalone specialist provision. Doors Open at Woodland View School.
  • All external building and landscaping works have been completed in Boclair Academy. Pupils and staff can now benefit from a new grass pitch, 1km fitness track, outdoor amphitheatre, bike shelters and hard and soft landscaping.
  • Early analysis indicates that overall SQA exam results remain strong as pupils from our eight secondary schools returned to formal exams for the second consecutive year since the disruption of the pandemic. A significant number have passed with flying colours, achieving A, B and C grades. For National 5s it was 84%, for Highers it was 83.1% and for Advanced Higher the figure was 79.2%.
  • Annual Participation Measure: Skills Development Scotland (SDS) worked with the Scottish Government to develop a measure of participation which allows us to identify the participation status of the wider 16-19 cohort. The latest (published August 2023) marks the eighth release of statistics on the participation of 16–19-year-olds at a national and local authority level. In August 2023, 97.5% of 16- to 19-year-olds were participating in education, employment or in other training and development. This represents the highest participation rate in the Council since records began.

Key areas of focus include:

  • Analysis of Insight data for benchmarking in the Senior Phase. This online tool allows secondary schools and the local authority to look at specific cohorts of learners and identify areas of success and where improvements can be made.
  • Finalise planning for the Scottish Attainment Challenge. This includes setting stretch aims. These set a minimum requirement for aims measurable by a sub-set of the National Improvement Framework (NIF) key measures based on national data and Insight data, along with local data for health and wellbeing.
  • Finalise planning for the Learning Festival, a special event to share innovative and creative practice in secondary schools. Guest speaker will be Professor Louise Hayward, who is leading the review on qualifications and assessment.
  • Reduce exclusions in secondary schools.

School Planning and Improvement

  • Statutory consultation continues to consider the proposed relocation of the Secondary Wellbeing Support Service (SWSS).
  • The project team are completing planning designs for the replacement build Balmuildy Primary. The next step will be to submit a planning application to the Planning Board.
  • Refurbishment projects in Milngavie Primary and Bearsden Primary continue to progress well. Stakeholders feedback on proposed designs has been very positive. The project team are working towards submitting an application to the Planning Board.
  • Scoping for the replacement build Westerton Primary continues to finalise the project brief. A key area of focus will be engagement sessions with all stakeholders.

Early Years and Supporting Families

  • Snack and Play, ASN playscheme provision at Merkland and provision for secondary aged young people continued to run until mid-August. Please visit the media release for more information.
  • The Supporting Families service continues to see a high number of referrals from Education, Social Work, Health and self-referrals. 42 families are currently being supported through 1 to 1 interventions, with 14 new requests for assistance.
  • Under 3s framework: The final draft of the framework was completed and those funded provider and council early years centres involved in the working party will now pilot this before sharing more widely. This framework provides a consistent approach to monitoring and securing children’s progress.
  • Following a third successful application to Education Scotland, a grant for £2300 to continue the Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) programme has been approved. An additional seven centres. Including two funded providers, are planning their programme to develop woodwork learning. This build on the successful project that took place in the Milngavie locality 21/22 and the Bishopbriggs locality 22/23.

Primary, Secondary and Special Schools

  • The Primary Quality Improvement Team visited all schools to engage in professional dialogue about Standards & Quality reports and School Improvement Plans, identifying key strengths and areas of focus. There is consensus that Senior Leaders would welcome more professional learning on using data to identify priorities for pupil equity funding and evaluative writing.
  • 107 probationers (63 primary and 44 secondary) have accepted their Teacher Induction Scheme in the Council. To date, they have participated in three Professional Learning sessions.
  • All schools have submitted offers to support students in the new session and students have been matched to most schools.
  • Coaching Professional Learning has been offered to Senior Leaders and Probationer Supporters in the Early Years, Primary, ASN and Secondary Sectors.
  • Mosshead Primary School received the STEM Nation Award from Education Scotland, their second Sport Scotland Gold award in recognition of putting sport at the heart of school planning.

Educational Psychological Services (EPS)

  • The EPS continued to develop refreshed guidance for promoting attendance. This is supported with a comprehensive framework to support schools to think about factors that lead to attendance difficulties and to set out a framework for universal, targeted and enhanced support. The next step will be to engage with young people, the parent forum and senior leaders.

Skills for Life, Learning and Work

  • Recruitment has taken place for Phase 10 of the apprenticeship programme with places in Early Years, Roads, Streetscene, Electrician and Streetlighting, Building Standards and a Graduate Apprenticeship in Social Sciences.
  • Ten parents have been recruited into temporary paid Council work placements in Early Years, Support for Learning and Catering as part of the Parental Employment Programme. This programme is funded through Scottish Government Tackling Child Poverty funding. The parents will receive accredited training and employability support to support access to future employment.

Finance & Digital Services

 A total of £1,227,631.23 in rent Arrears - Active accounts, compared with a target of £990,000.00 The percentage of income from council tax due, received by the end of the year 46.88%, compared with a target of 46.98% Housing Benefit - Average Days to fully process new claims 17, compared with a target of 22 Council Tax Reduction - Average Days to fully process new claims 19, compared with a target of 25

Finance

The month of August saw the Finance Team progressing work on systems with a continued focus on the Oracle Fusion General Ledger replacement. 

The Council continues to deliver against an ambitious capital programme supported largely by borrowing. Where this remains the case, the Council continues to plan to incur increasing revenue costs through servicing this debt.

Internal Audit

Internal Audit have been focussing on progressing the 2023/24 audit plan, with audits for the Council and the HSCP underway. Recently completed audits include Fleet Management, Glasgow City Region City Deal and HSCP Workforce Planning. Work nearing completion includes Drainage and Flooding Risks and Self Directed Support - Transitions. 

Corporate Fraud

The Corporate Fraud Team have been focusing on reviewing the final National Fraud Initiative matches which been received. Investigations are also being undertaken as a result of referrals received and vetting of applications continues for services such as Housing, Education, Licensing and Estates to secure the gateways by preventing fraud or error entering the system. 

Revenues & Benefits

The Revenues and Benefits team have continued to process Council Tax and Benefits services and administration of the Scottish Welfare Fund. The team continue to develop the new Document Management System to improve the efficiency of the system. The team are now encouraging customers to apply for online accounts for the new system which enables customers to apply for all Council Tax exemptions, discounts and housing benefits. 

Shared Services

The Shared Services Team continue to provide support across all Council services. The Letting Team completed the allocation of lets and informed all customers before the start of the new academic year. The General Team provided support to the Canal festival including providing information to all stall holders for the event. The Homecare Team continue to support a new initiative from the Planning & Commissioning Team processing variations in addition to their normal workload.

ICT Services

The ICT Services team continue to support the Council’s information technology systems and services to ensure high availability and performance in line with agreed service levels. The Team resolved over 2,800 tickets in August and dealt with almost 600 telephone calls. ICT continue to support the migration of services to Microsoft 365 (M365) in partnership with the Business and Digital Change Team. The ICT Security team continue to monitor the estate and perimeter defences alongside ongoing improvements to ensure that our systems and data are protected.

Housing Rent and Tenant Participation

The Housing Operations – Rents team continues to prioritise the maximisation of rental income and to assist and support tenants who are engaging and may be struggling to meet their rent liability. Pre-tenancy contact with applicants who are on offer remains a successful resource in preparing payment plans before tenancy sign up. The team’s commitment to reducing Active Rent Arrears has seen a decrease of £122,318 on same period as last year (week 22).

In terms of Tenant Participation achievements – a Tenant Participation Working Group meeting was held and attended by tenants, tenant representatives, elected members and EDC staff as well as the latest issue of Taking Part being issued to all tenants.

Business & Digital Change Team

During August, the Business & Digital Change 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.

Key Achievements / Areas of Focus

Finance

  • The Oracle Fusion General Ledger system replacement is continuing to be progressed, with Workstream Leads across Finance and Corporate Procurement liaising with the external implementation partners who are supporting the project. 
  • As part of 2023/24 budget monitoring, actual spend and projected outturn has been reviewed against budget as at period 3 (June 2023) in preparation for this being reported to committee in September’s Policy & Resources Committee.
  • Similarly, a period 3 monitoring report has been prepared for Mugdock’s Joint Management Committee meeting in September.  This report highlights any variances between actuals and budget.
  • A key area of focus will be responding to external audit queries on the accounts.  The auditors have commenced their walkthrough testing of key financial systems and this is being supported by the team.
  • Work has started on two of our major external returns, the Local Financial Returns for the Scottish Government and the Whole of Government Accounts for the UK Government.
  • Recruitment into vacant posts is ongoing, with a vacancy at the Accountant level.
  • The Treasury team continue 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 continues on the 2023/24 Internal Audit Plan, with work progressing across a number of Council and HSCP services.
  • Internal Audit have provided support for the new external auditors, Mazars, providing key contacts and access to previous audit work to minimise the burden of scrutiny and duplication.
  • 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.  This has included advice in relation to the HSCP’s Performance, Audit and Risk Committee’s self-assessment.
  • Development work is focusing on the use of data analytics in audit work, with the aspiration being that this will improve both the efficiency of audit work and the level of assurance that can be provided.

Corporate Fraud

  • Corporate Fraud is investigating allegations received, focusing on suspected fraud or error within Education, Housing and Revenues Services and on cases resulting from the National Fraud Initiative. 
  • The team also continue to undertake vetting on applications, from a number of services, in order to prevent to fraud and any potential reputational damage.

Revenues and Benefits

  • In the month of August the team issued:
    • 2,200 Council Tax bills, 2,000 reminders, 1,750 Benefits notifications and 860 Summary Warrants.
    • Over 400 Non-Domestic Rates bills.
  • Over 400 crisis grants and community care grants were awarded under the Scottish Welfare Fund.
  • The team received and dealt with almost 1,900 documents for Council Tax queries and reduction and over 750 for benefits.
  • The team dealt with 3,000 telephone enquiries.

ICT Services

  • ICT Services are working closely with the Business and Digital Change Team to implement M365. This includes:
    • All primary shared mailboxes migrated to M365.
    • Archived mailboxes migrated to M365.
  • The Infrastructure Team completed:
    • The commissioning and handover of all ICT Equipment at Woodland View School.
    • The migration of 12 primary school and 3 corporate sites to Software Defined Wide Area Network (SD-WAN).  This has the benefit of: materially increasing the bandwidth at these locations, the ability to divert internet traffic to the quickest route, and also the benefit of enhanced internet traffic monitoring facilities for each site.
  • The Infrastructure team has started planning for Core Data Centre switch replacement and the Bearsden and Milngavie Primary Schools decant.
  • The ICT Security team continues to progress the Public Services Network (PSN) accreditation for 2023.

Shared Services

  • The Residential Team added over 160 service agreements to Carefirst for clients moving into care homes or for supported living services within their own homes.
  • The Homecare Team added over 300 service agreements to Carefirst for clients receiving a homecare service or a direct payment.
  • The Transport Team liaised with parents and providers for the new academic year transport arrangements.
  • The Direct Payment Audit Team finalised 21 standard direct payment audits for clients receiving self-directed support.
  • The Education Maintenance Award Team received 104 Education Maintenance Applications in August. 75 were awarded and 29 are awaiting further information to complete.

Housing Rent Arrears

  • 14 tenants were assisted and successfully awarded payment from Hardship Fund towards rent payments, totalling £14,730.
  • Active Tenant Rent Arrears were £1,227,631, which is a decrease of £122,318 on same period as last year (week 22).
  • The Rents Team continue to support the Change Team with the development of the Integrated Housing Management System (provider is NEC).
  • Housing Officers continue to utilise all avenues to maximise rental income and reduce rent arrears, while also providing advice and assistance to tenants who engage and need additional support.
  • Appointments with a Housing Officer are available at Kirkintilloch Job Centre every Tuesday morning to assist tenants in receipt of the Universal Credit housing element.
  • Reducing active tenant rent arrears continues to be a priority for the Housing Service.
  • Former Tenant Arrears are £750,275 with the team continuing to work on former rent arrears to bring this figure down.

Business & Digital Change

  • In collaboration with Scotland Excel and the Digital Office, an open tender exercise has successfully concluded with a new supplier appointed to deliver a common platform for Alarm Receiving Centres (ARC) in Scotland.  The Council is a partner in this collaboration and our planned transition to a new digital ARC is on track for Spring 2024.
  • The IHMS team continues to work closely with the Housing service to design, build and configure the new Integrated Housing Management System (IHMS).  The building of the system configuration for Phase 1 is now complete, and testing is ongoing.  Progress has continued in the development of financial interfaces, system security, document management, and preparation for data migration to the new NEC Housing system.
  • Work continues to progress on the delivery of Oracle Fusion Procurement and Finance modules.  System Integration Testing has concluded, and planning has begun for the User Acceptance Testing stage of the project.  The project is on track for a Go Live in December 2023.
  • The design concepts for our new Council Website (CMS) have been approved and work continues to develop the Council site.  Engagement with our Health & Social Care Partnership and Leisure & Culture Trust has also commenced.  All 3 websites are on track to go live in Spring 2024. 
  • Our M365 Sharepoint Discovery phase has now commenced with the implementation of required tooling to analyse the Councils unstructured files.  Seven pilot Business Units have been established and provided file folder configuration requirements needed to inform future analysis & remediation activity in advance of migrating files to the SharePoint document libraries as a test of change.
  • In house development of seven legacy notes developments using the M365 power platform is underway.  User requirements gathering has been completed and alpha development of these solutions has commenced.
  • Work continues for the delivery of our new Customer Relationship Management system (CRM).  The platform will help to increase the number of digital transactions the Council manages on an annual basis and make it easier for our residents to interact with us quickly.
  • Our Enterprise Architecture project continues at pace. Work has commenced this period on establishing recommended proposals for legacy applications, cost savings, efficiencies and process engineering.

Health and Social Care Partnership

100% of customers (65+) met the target of 6 weeks from completion of community care assessment to service delivery, compared with a target of 100% 100% of individuals began a work placement within 7 working days of receiving a Community Payback Order, compared with a target of 80% 100% of initial child protection case conferences took place within 21 days from receipt of referral, compared with a target of 90%

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

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

During August 2023, the HSCP has performed on or above target on all of its identified performance indicators. Work is ongoing on implementing the 2023-24 Annual Delivery Plan actions.

Key Achievements / Areas of Focus

Key Achievements:

  • Responses to our recent care at home survey were very positive, with over 96% of customers rating our service as excellent (58%), very good (28%), or good (10%).
  • The National House Project annual review described the East Dunbartonshire House Project as excellent and sector leading. 29 young people have used the service so far, with 24 now in a positive destination and 19 having their own tenancy.
  • EDHSCP is part of a partnership pilot to establish a Bairns’ Hoose, a safe space for children and young people who have been the victims of violent and sexual crimes. We were present at the opening of the first Bairns’ Hoose to open in Scotland this month.

Promotional activity in support of:

  • World Breastfeeding Week
  • World Lung Cancer Day
  • East Dunbartonshire Income Maximisation Service
  • Volunteers for the Patient Carers and Service User group membership
  • Power of Attorney awareness
  • Carers Link information and impact video
  • Alcohol and drug partnerships stall at the Kirkintilloch Canal Festival

Areas of Focus:

Children and Criminal Justice Services:

  • Respond to the “Children at Risk of Harm” joint inspection outcomes.
  • Supporting Unaccompanied Asylum Seeking Children to begin their recovery and live in safety in nurturing placements in East Dunbartonshire.
  • Work is ongoing to redress the balance of care by reviewing out of authority placements and continuing the Foster Carer recruitment campaign.
  • Continue to develop as a Trauma Informed organisation
  • Update and implement new Child Protection Procedures
  • Ongoing implementation of Children’s House Project model, Year 3
  • Continue to develop tier 1 and tier 2 service for Children for children and young people with mental health challenges

Adult Services:

  • Continue to ensure that we provide Self Directed Support training to Social Work and Health practitioners to instil confidence and knowledge about the options amongst the workforce. 
  • Continue to implement our Digital Health and Care Actions, seeking to link traditional telecare with telehealth monitoring and technology enabled care. Aiming to maximise the experience of remote technology and implement the Analogue to Digital Telecare Transformation by 2024.
  • Continue to optimise opportunities for people to remain living at home, active and independent in their community, to support the ongoing shift in the balance of care away from residential or nursing care in a care home until it is essential to meet the outcomes of the individual and/or to manage risk.  Numbers of people being admitted to long term care are not yet returned to pre-pandemic levels but are rising, as is the complexity of those being supported in the community.
  • Continue to respond to the needs of carers, enabling them to continue their caring role and enjoy a life of their own, as equal partners in care.
  • Continuing to provide multi-disciplinary intensive, support and assurance for all care homes and other registered care services across adult services in the area in line with refreshed Scottish government guidance and direction.
  • Continue to pursue achievement of compliance with target timescales for adult protection cases.
  • Taking forward the Allander Resource Centre - Learning Disability day services –Development of community based services, employability, volunteering and community based model of support.
  • Implement the 23/24 actions of the Social Support for Older People Strategy and associated commissioning delivery plan.
  • Refresh HSCP Learning Disability Strategy
  • Delivery of Medically Assisted Treatment Standards, (MAT Standards) 6 -10.
  • Review of in-house accommodation-based support services for adults with Learning Disability.

HSCP Wide:

  • Development of a recruitment strategy for ED HSCP and wider Social Care workforce in East Dunbartonshire.
  • Continue delivery of a range of measures to support staff wellbeing and support options.
  • Continue to pursue options for the engagement and involvement of local people and individuals in service development and design.

Land Planning and Development

 52% Planning Applications receiving a letter confirming whether application is valid or invalid within 5 working days, compared with a target of 80%

Land Planning & Development have progressed a number of significant work streams during August 2023 in line with the Business Improvement Plan commitments. 

Land Planning Policy

  • The Land Planning Policy Team continues to undertake preliminary work for Local Development Plan 3. Following consultation on the Development Plan Scheme and Draft Participation Statement a modified version of both were prepared during the period.  These will be presented to Council on 28 September for decision.   The team also prepared a response to the Scottish Government’s consultation on ‘effective community engagement in local development planning’ and this was agreed at PNCA Committee on 24th August.  The team also supported the Housing Service with the preparation of the Strategic Housing Investment Plan and fed into the finalisation of the new Local Housing Strategy.
  • The Team has been implementing the Circular Economy Strategy; particularly regarding green skills and developing informational and promotional resources to be implemented in the coming months.
  • Work is underway to identify priority projects for inclusion in the Council’s new Greenspace Strategy, which will replace the Green Network Strategy and Open Space Strategy.  Opportunities for improvement of open space, increasing tree cover, expanding peatland restoration and wetland creation are currently being assessed in collaboration with internal and external stakeholders.  Audit work on play facilities is now underway and surveyors are continuing to assess play areas and facilities across East Dunbartonshire.  The outcome of the assessment will inform the priority actions on play to be included in the draft Greenspace Strategy.  Work commenced on the preparation of the statutory Biodiversity Duty Report which will be reported to PNCA Committee in November.
  • Work is under way on the preparation of a brief to carry out an adaptation and habitat feasibility study of land along the Kelvin Valley.  This will link into existing work on river restoration along the Kelvin tributaries.  Further information on the scope and schedule for this work will be reported once procurement is under way.

Sustainability Policy

  • Work on the Climate Action Plan and Local Heat & Energy Efficiency Strategy is continuing.  The evidence and options work for both the net zero (climate change mitigation) and resilience (climate change adaptation) strands of the Climate Action Plan (CAP) has now been completed.   The Climate Change Member Officer Group reviewed the Evidence and Options Reports at their meeting on 24 August and a report is being taken to Council on 28 September.  This will include recommended pathways to reach net zero for both the Council and East during the first half of 2024, after which public consultation will be carried out.  Work is continuing on the preparation of the related Local Heat & Energy Efficiency Strategy (LHEES) with evidence work expected to be completed this autumn.  Following this, the Draft LHEES will be prepared and will be brought to Council in the first half of 2024 along with the Draft CAP with public consultation to be carried out following Council approval.
  • Work is continuing on the new Active Travel Strategy.
  • Consultants were appointed to deliver a Community Carbon Literacy Training Programme and preparatory work has now commenced with publicity prior to the start of the delivery phase to be undertaken in September/October.  The Sustainability Policy Team is currently working with partners to assess initiatives that could be developed to further support community climate action to be developed alongside the Community Carbon Literacy Programme.
     

GIS Team

  • The team has continued to carry out a range of GIS analysis for the council teams.  This has included a variety of map production work, calculating distances to determine travel time distances to key services and creating web apps and data dashboards, which help to understand spatial data more effectively.
  • The team have also created a number of maps which will be used in consultations across East Dunbartonshire. The team have also been working on enhancing the work previously done for EDCs walking and wheeling network, for the Active Travel Strategy. We have also been incorporating our 3D maps into these projects, having recently developed 3D mapping for East Dunbartonshire.
  • We have been assisting B&DC with their work on transferring IDOX to a Managed Service, the team have undertaken user testing for the Test and Train software and have been reporting any errors to B&DC
  • The team have been working with the Roads department to create a number of new web apps to help when they are out in the field and need to view information.
  • The team have also been working in collaboration with roads to help amend their gazetteer to match ours, to ensure consistency across council departments. This has been a large body of work recently, as we highlighted over 300 historic differences between the Gazetteers.
  • The GIS Team have updated key spatial data for IDOX users to ensure they are using the latest data. The team are at the final stage of preparing a users groups release ready to go live.
  • The team have been working with Roads to develop multiple work plan maps, to help their team navigate their workload and contact list more effectively. The team have also worked with roads to use the data gathered by consultants in our own EDC apps, to allow for greater access across the roads department to this information.
  • The team have also set up a number of Surveys for the Child Protection team, alongside this they have developed custom Web Hooks. This ensures that Child Protection are instantly notified when a submission is made, so they can respond to incidents quickly if needed. The team have also done multiple training sessions on Survey123, to allow the Child Protection team to create and customise their surveys.
  • The team have completed the Street Naming and Numbering for a number of projects over the past month. All road adoption requests have also been successfully processed during this period.
  • The team continues to provide technical support to Community Protection and Development Applications to improve efficiency and ensure we are in line statutory guidance and regulations through IDOX.

Housing Strategy & Systems

  • The new IHMS implementation is well underway, with functional testing progressing in all modules. User Acceptance Testing (UAT) training has been delayed due to additional functional testing being required; it is anticipated that this will be more on track by the end of September.
  • Systems Officers are assisting with the data cleansing of the current Saffron IT system as well as Housing folders, to ensure a smooth transition when migrating to the new system, while also assisting with day-to-day processing of direct debits and the set-up of rent accounts.
  • Performance Monitoring Officers are completing monthly performance statistics and continue to update Smartsheet with new dashboards and sheets for Officers to work from.
  • Work is continuing on the Digital Telecare switch and the Project Board are ensuring the successful transition of analogue telecare to digital telecare throughout the sheltered complexes.
  • The Housing Estates Adviser is working closely with the sheltered wardens and concierge to ensure a robust service is provided to tenants and residents.

Business Support

  • Working with numerous public sector agencies to ensure all support mechanisms to help business and create jobs are fully utilised, including development of new skills & technologies.  Cost of doing business continues to be a concern and resources to help and inform businesses continue to be priority with combined support materials available through.
  • The Digital Development Grant has been launched and already fully subscribed, and applications are now being processed. It will be on hold until such time as any further funding can be obtained. Green Business Support grant now launched.
  • The Business Gateway National Review continues but in the interim services continue to be delivered as usual.  National Programme delivery is now being considered as part of the overall review.  It is likely that Digital Boost funding will no longer be available and Local Authorities will be expected to provide this support with the exception of Webinars which will be picked up by Business Gateway National.
  • The team is in the early stages of developing the site enabling and regeneration grant.

City Deal Team

  • 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 City Deal & HM Greenbook requirements) which are required to unlock the funding from the region.
  • Work is ongoing on the Westerhill Masterplan and the Westerhill Development Road for which the design contract is now underway.  The project team are currently analysing the various route options in order to select a preferred route to develop further through the OBC process. .
  • Work continues on the next stages of the design process for Bishopbriggs Town Centre and Bishopbriggs Park.  An application has been prepared for the UK Levelling Up Fund, to submit once Round 3 of the fund opens, for which there is currently no date. 
  • A803 feasibility and options work progressing as part of Outline Business Case development. Preparation for forth coming consultation on A803 Route Corridor Improvements as part of project develop.

Regeneration & Town Centres Team

  • The project to improve Regent Gardens in Kirkintilloch Town Centre has moved to the construction stage. The construction work will take several months and works are expected to complete early 2024. On the Campsie Memorial Hall in Lennoxtown - funding has been secured from Regeneration Capital Grant Fund and work continues to develop the project with RIBA 3 design to take place following procurement of design team.
  • The programme management of the Shared Prosperity Fund is ongoing. A range of projects have been identified and are being progressed for implementation over the next 2.5 years.
  • The Lennoxtown Main Street Improvement Project is ongoing to develop outline designs. An application to support Lennoxtown regeneration projections has been prepared for the the UK Levelling Up Fund, to submit once Round 3 of the fund opens, for which there is currently no date.
  • Working ongoing to support Milngavie BID as it moves towards re-ballot, and the Kirkintilloch BID Streeting Group as it moves to ballot on 2nd November 2023.

Traffic & Transport Team

  • The construction phase of Canniesburn Toll Improvement Project is on site and is expected to take around 9 months. Four Traffic Regulation Order (TRO) have been promoted to support aspects of the new design.
  • Feasibility and design works are progressing on a range of active travel infrastructure projects included in the Local Transport and Active Travel Strategies.
  • Work is progressing on key functions of the team including: working on a range of Traffic Regulation Orders at various stages of the statutory process, liaising with the network operator and maintenance contractors of the public electric vehicle charging network and continuing to assist in resolving access issues.

Development Management:

  • During the reporting period the planning side of the team has determined 60 applications and validated 66 applications.
  • The Building Standards team have received 81 building warrants and approved 147 applications. 
  • The Enforcement Team opened 9 new cases and closed 4.
  • The Development Applications team prepared reports for the forthcoming meeting of the Planning Board.
  • The Team continues to provide applicants including the Councils Major Assets and Housing teams with pre application advice and support.
  • Both Planning and Building Standards teams continue to offer support and informal advice to customers through our morning duty service Monday to Friday.

Key Achievements / Areas of Focus

  • Completion of the Climate Action Plan Evidence and Options Reports
  • IHMS – User Acceptance Testing progression.
  • Housing Performance monthly monitoring.
  • Consultants appointed to deliver Community Carbon Literacy Training Programme.

Legal and Regulatory Services

100% of contract acceptances were completed within: 7 days of full instructions, compared with a target of 100% 100% of Taxi licence applications were approved or refused by Legal Services within. 5 days of receipt of the complete application, compared with a target of 100% 100% of Housing Improvement and Repairs Grants were processed and authorised within 7 days of receiving full instructions, compared with a target of 90%

Democratic Services

Overview of Progress

Throughout August, the Democratic Services Teams continued to support the internal governance of the Council, in addition to certain regulatory functions.  August saw a return to the Council’s governance meetings and a key area of focus for Democratic Services was the implementation of the Council’s new committee management system, Modern.Gov.  This system is now used for writing committee reports, managing the diary, preparing, and issuing agendas and the publication of committee papers to the Council’s website.  In time, it will also be used to support public engagement and consultation, and a petitions function.  In addition, the service continued to support Members and the Strategic Leadership Team.  The Information Management Team continues to provide important support and advice to the MS365 implementation team, in addition to business-as-usual support in relation to freedom of information and data protection.

Key Achievements / Areas of Focus

  • Registration & Customer Services completed 99 birth and 191 death registrations in August.  39 marriages were also registered in this period.
  • The Team supported arrangements for a Citizenship Ceremony and provided administrative and other supports to the Civic Office.
  • Implementation and roll-out of a new committee administration system, which included support for report authors and the production and distribution of committee and board agendas.
  • Democratic Services administered 3 Strategic Service Committees, 1 Planning Board, 1 Licensing Board and 1 Planning Local Review Body.
  • Information Management received & processed 115 FOI/EIRs and 17 SARs (Subject Access Requests)

Legal Services

Overview of Progress

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

Performance against all indicators for Legal Services for August is 100%.

Legal Services continues to support services across the Council in the delivery of projects, contracts and otherwise to manage legal risk.  This includes advice and work on confidential matters that cannot be included in this report.

Key Achievements / Areas of Focus

  • During August, the Team processed 9 contract form reviews, 4 Contract award letters, 29 taxi licence applications, and 12 grants.
  • Supporting the City Deal team with re-negotiation of ground investigation contract and ancillary matters including site compound provision and access.  Advising on the title position for Bishopbriggs Park in light of the proposed regeneration works planned alongside the Bishopbriggs Town Centre project.
  • Property work included 1 open market purchases for Council housing and completion of the community asset transfer of Antermony Loch to the Antermony Development Trust.
  • Contracts concluded in this period included ride on mowers, a vibration monitoring system and a care management scheduling and monitoring system.
  • The Litigation Team continued to provide support to Social Work in relation to adults with incapacity and permanence planning.  In addition, significant support was provided to Education including work on placing request appeals to the Sheriff Court and other litigation.

Procurement

Overview of Progress

During August, the Procurement Team continued to support services across the Council in the delivery of various projects, including ongoing support to a number of strategic procurements/projects, particularly in relation to City Deal, ICT, Business & Digital Change, and various Capital projects.  In particular, the Team was heavily involved in data cleansing, Solution Design, Communication planning, and Key User training meetings as part of the implementation of a replacement for the Oracle Financial system.  This has placed a significant demand on the resources of the Team.  The Team also continuously works to manage and support the operational activity in terms of the buyers work centre, Iproc catalogue and supplier management and payment processing.

Key Achievements / Areas of Focus

  • Providing ongoing support to the City Deal team in relation to Contract requirements and alternative procurement route options.
  • Supported key Capital, Business & Digital Change projects such as Oracle Fusion upgrade, IHMS Consultancy, Westerhill Development Road, school estate Professional Fees, school summer maintenance works, Vehicle Purchases, whilst supporting workforce of the future planning and Business as Usual workstreams.
  • Participation in extensive meetings and workshops in order to train, test and solution re-design, in preparation for the implementation of the Oracle Fusion upgrade.
  • Continued to support the Council’s Social Care & Educational transport requirements.
  • Completed renewals for support and maintenance of business-critical systems to facilitate workforce of the future.
  • Ongoing support for the transition/implementation of the Managed Stores Service, including the technical requirements for integrations and e-invoicing on Iproc.
  • Ongoing data analysis in preparation of the 2022-2023 Annual Procurement Report to include alignments with Organisational Climate Action Planning, Circular Economy Strategy, Community Wealth Building & the City Region Community Wish List planning.
  • Commenced review of Contract Standing Orders for alignment with Organisational changes, financial management and Procurement governance.

Strategic Commissioning  

Overview of Progress

The Strategic Commissioning Team focussed on providing enhanced monitoring and oversight of commissioned services as unprecedented demand pressures exacerbated by the on-going cost of living crisis continues to undermine the market.  The Team was also actively involved in supporting the progression of HSCP strategic priorities, responding to acute pressures whilst starting to prepare for the forthcoming winter period.

Key Achievements / Areas of Focus

  • Identified an appropriate commissioning model to support delivery of the national resettlement programme for unaccompanied asylum-seeking children.
  • Supported development of the new Learning Disability Strategy (2023 – 2028).
  • Successfully concluded financial negotiations for local respite services.
  • Implemented new Schedule of Rates 2023/2024.
  • Developed robust procedures to help strengthen governance procedures for off-contract arrangements and rolled out / implemented across the HSCP.
  • Commissioned suitable / appropriate resources to accommodate individuals awaiting discharge from hospital.
  • Supported the development of a new local respite service for adults diagnosed with complex / challenging behaviours.
  • Supported progression of various Scotland Excel Framework Agreements – ensuring local requirements (current / future) are reflected accordingly.
  • Continued to review / progress provider uplift requests (to support viability) via agreed process.
  • Supported progression of agreed commissioning arrangements for building based day care services.
  • Successfully planned / transitioned bespoke supported accommodation placements.
  • Progressed performance management returns for services commissioned via Scotland Excel’s Care and Support framework in line with agreed procedures.
  • Commissioned bespoke support for individuals moving into short / long term care.
  • Identified the commissioning model required to support delivery of the key priorities entailed within the Carers Strategy.
  • Reviewed transitional planning arrangements to inform / update the dynamic risk register.

Roads and Neighbourhood Services

 80.85% of responsive road repairs completed within timescales, compared with a target of 85% 76,291 visitors to Mugdock Country Park, compared with a target of 48,000 92.73% of all street light repairs completed within 7 days, compared with a target of 95% 87% of special uplifts were completed within 10 working days, compared with a target of 90% Fleet utilisation was 85.1%, compared with a target of 80%

The Roads and Neighbourhood Service continues 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 seven portfolio groupings:

1. Roads Network Operations

2. Roads Technical & Engineering

3. Streetscene Technical Support (including Bereavement and Arboriculture)

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

5. Waste Services (including domestic & commercial waste & recycling collections)

6. Fleet Services (including fleet operations, maintenance, and transportation)

7. Mugdock Country Park

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

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

Roads Network Operations Team (including Street Lighting)

The team continue to deliver both planned and reactive maintenance to both carriageways, footways, and street lighting assets. The Service is almost at full numbers in terms of resources available with vacancies for operational posts. The one Roads Technician (Utilities) has now been filled and is awaiting a start date. The service will continue to try to achieve full capacity going forward, but recruitment continues to be challenging within a very competitive market. The other issue is now retaining trained staff and succession planning. On a positive note, the Roads Network Operations & Streetlighting Teams have started three and two Modern Apprentices respectively. The Modern Apprentices will attend colleague to gain the relevant qualifications while receiving on the job training and mentoring by knowledgeable, experienced, and trained technical and operational staff.

The 2023/24 capital programmes for carriageway, footway resurfacing programme and lighting projects are ongoing with road space booked and work programmed in as per the Roads Resurfacing Programme Technical Note which will be updated in October. Regrettably, the Streetlighting Team are working at a reduced capacity, so this is likely to affect the projected capital programme. If this is the case any outstanding projects will be carried forward into 2024/25.

The Service work with external survey consultant (Gaist) is now completed and this will inform future Capital programmes for carriageway and footways. The information will also be utilised to determine the type of work to be undertaken.

Roads Technical & Engineering

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 Service is now operating a full capacity following recent staff changes with several newer members of the team familiarising themselves with the Council area and taking forward individual projects including gateway features, replacement bridges, signalised junctions, and other important road safety features.

Streetscene Operations

The three geographical based teams continue to work on their summer grounds maintenance programmes including grass cutting operations, Herbicide treatment, Care of Gardens service, play area inspections etc. The summer maintenance season is coming to an end and the teams will be switching to their Autumn/Winter maintenance programmes which include autumn leaf collection and shrub pruning 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. In addition, the team also continues to manage the Councils tree stock carrying out surveys with the Ash Dieback Surveys ongoing with the result informing what action the Council need to take to address this important issue. The team manages and performs burials in the eight operational cemeteries.

Streetscene Technical Support Team

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

Mugdock Country Park

The team are now working on the summer season. The team are monitoring the quarry area during the usual increased visitors to this location now and throughout the summer months. 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.

Waste Services

The Waste Team has continued the frontline service operations for the collection of over 400,000 assorted household bins over the month of June, 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 500 of our local commercial premises.

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 1871 tonnes of waste through this contract in June, ensuring our waste undergoes treatment for recycling extraction prior to being sent through an Energy from Waste process.

Fleet Services

The Fleet team continue to manage the transport operations including the Councils Goods Vehicle Operator Licence and compliance across all services. This includes provision and management of the maintenance workshops, annual testing, statutory inspections, and management of Drivers in line with obligations and conditions laid out in the Councils commitment to the Scottish Traffic Commissioner.

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

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

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

Key Achievements / Areas of Focus

Roads Network Operations Teams (including Street Lighting)

The Roads Network Operations completed all programmed carriageway and footway safety inspections.

During the inspections and as a result to public feedback the service identified 188 defects in East Dunbartonshire Council carriageways. We have completed 152 repairs on time (about 80.85%), which is below the council service level agreement and road maintenance policy. Unfortunately, this appears to be due to staff holidays during the school holiday period. The team are still working to improve how defects are identified, recorded, and repaired which is one of the main aims of the Roads Improvement Plan.

Carriageway and Footway defects bar graph - stats in main text

All carriageways and footways Safety Inspection between 01/08/2023 and 31/08/2023 have been successfully completed.

The carriageway & footway resurfacing program works undertaken in August include. 

Town Carriageway Resurfacing February to April 2023 Date Completed
Kirkintilloch Twechar Road August
Bearsden Baljaffray Road August
Bishopbriggs Wester Cleddans Road August
Bishopbriggs Balmuildy Road August
Kirkintilloch Langmuir Road August
Bearsden Greenwood Drive August 

 

Town  Footway Resurfacing February to April 2023 Date Completed
Bishopbriggs Meadowburn August 
Bearsden Ballater August August
Milngavie Findlay Rise  
  • The tender for external support has now been completed and contract awarded for assistance with street lighting electrical works at times of peak workload, comprising electrician and mobile elevated work platform vehicle.
  • Responses to various enquiries / complaints continue, as required
  • Site visits and inspections of developer’s road lighting installations continue at various locations Council wide.
  • Assessment of coal tar testing results for future lighting renewal works.
  • Monitoring and processing of street lighting energy invoices continues.

Roads Technical & Engineering Teams -

Traffic

  • Signalisation of Milton of Campsie Cross and Station Road at Drymen Road, Bearsden are under early preparations, but work will not be able to start on the ground while Canniesburn Toll is ongoing.
  • TRO for Disabled Parking 21-22 (new requests from 2020 to 2022) is now complete, and spaces are lined, signed and enforceable.
  • TRO for Disabled Parking 22-23 (new requests from June 2022 – June 2023) is expected to go to November committee for approval.
  • TRO at statutory consultee stage for new signals at Campsie Cross Milton of Campsie
  • Recommenced Junior Road Safety Officer programme at primary schools.
  • Attendance at various regional and national meetings related to road safety.
  • The team are providing technical support for City Deal projects, Canniesburn Toll, Lennoxtown Main Street and Cycling Connectivity Corridors.
  • The team are working through various locations installing new or replacing street signs as per customer requests.
  • Responding to Planning Applications.
  • Responding to Lining Requests and refreshing faded road markings
  • Commenting on various licences i.e., street trader licences, public entertainment licences and occasional licences.
  • Dealing with various requests for temporary road closures.

Development

  • Site visits to monitor progress on developments currently under construction.
  • Site meetings to inspect developments and identify remedial works prior to adoption by EDC.
  • Assist planning with development applications, distribute to officers for their comments on potential future developments.
  • Process road adoption enquiries from internal and external departments.
  • Coordination of future works, road openings and temporary traffic management permits.- EDC/NLC local RAUC held meeting 6 September – all issues reported to Utilities to resolve. Capital programme amended as coal tar on locations, new sites recorded. Scottish Road Works Register Fixed Penalty Notices are being issued monthly along with temporary traffic lights. SRWR register is monitored daily and  to resolve conflicts between work sites. Completed Quarter2 Category A,B and C inspections.

Flooding and Drainage

  • River Glazert Restoration Project, Lennoxtown - Detail design report being finalised. CAR licence and Planning to commence when report is finalised. Ongoing.
  • Kelvin Tributaries River Restoration Project – Draft Statement of Requirements being finalised and will be passed to procurement for appointment of consultant.
  • Climate Ready Park – Tenders returned and is now at Evaluation stage.
  • Golf View FAS, Bearsden – JBA report has been finalised and has been provided to residents for review and feedback. On going
  • John Muir Way – Re-routing of Path at Glazert Water / Weir – Work is completed however existing path will be monitored and will eventually be closed if risk to public increases.  
  • Wet Wet Westerton Flood Resilience Group –evening meeting with residents of Westerton area planned for 28 Sep 6 -8 pm with Scottish Flood Forum and Scottish Water
  • Root cutting and lining works at Monreith Avenue, Bearsden ongoing
  • Hillfoot Drive, Bearsden - remove drainage channel and install / replace gullies – booked for 13 to 24 November
  • Additional capital works at Camstradden Drive West have started 18/9 to 29/9, Camstradden Drive East due to start 2/10 to 13/10 both jobs to replace gullies and repair surface lines
  • C.C.T.V surveys are booked for various locations
  • Viewfield rd. Bishopbriggs – new gully and channel drain fitted – completed
  • Monreith Ave Bearsden – fit new manhole on surface line and replace pipework and fit new gully for lining works – completed
  • Castlehill Rd. Bearsden – C.C.T.V and Vactor investigation completed
  • Various site visits planned to progress additional capital spend

Structures

  • 2023/24 General and Principal inspections programme commenced and ongoing.
  • Review & response to abnormal load requests.
  • Capital programme for 2023/24 is in progress.
  • Lairdsland culvert, Kirkintilloch. Strengthening works complete.
  • Broadmeadow bridge masonry parapet replacement and drainage improvements complete.
  • Braes O Yetts culvert parapet strike, Kirkintilloch. Parapet repair works complete. Additional fall protection to be installed in September.
  • Lammermoor Rd culvert refurbishment, Kirkintilloch. Phase 1 NB parapet replacement commenced.
  • Langmuir Rd retaining wall, Kirkintilloch. Fencing atop retaining wall to be replaced. Consultation with residents underway, works planned for October.
  • Moss Maigry culvert road undermining, Crow Road, Lennoxtown. Works to commence on 2nd October for approximately two weeks.

Greenspace & Streetscene Teams

Streetscene Operations

  • Summer cyclical works ongoing
  • Street cleansing and mechanical sweeping; removal of fly posting and uplifting of fly tipping, mechanical street sweeping and installing replacement or additional bins. Includes cleaning of precinct areas.
  • Graffiti removal.
  • Summer bedding maintenance and watering of hanging baskets.
  • Ongoing cemetery operations, digging and carrying out interments, installing headstone foundations and benches.
  • Care of Gardens maintenance ongoing
  • Checking and clearance of culverts
  • Play park inspection
  • Herbicide works in open spaces, including Japanese knotweed treatment.
  • Pitch marking and overmarking.
  • Housing tidy-ups, on request.
  • Responding to Customer Service Requests and complaints.
  • Removal of dead animals and excess waste at recycling centres.
  • Cutting of flood bankings/Iona Way
  • Trailer training for staff
  • Overseeing contracts relating to Verge cut (2nd cut) and hedge cutting.

Streetscene Technical Support

  • Nature Restoration Fund – funding received from SG and draft list of projects in place and now progressing to procurement and works on the ground
  • Contract awarded in relation to the upgrading of the Canal towpath, Kirkintilloch via Scotland Excel framework – consultation has commenced.
  • Play Park Accessibility Work Study ongoing.
  • EDC Annual Independent Play Inspection for FY23/24 – completed in July – written reports received – Officers reviewing content
  • Play Areas - Public Consultation of play area projects complete involving Waterside, Springfield, Dougalston Gardens North and Torrance Main Street
  • Play Areas – Officers working on briefs for a further 7 projects
  • Scanning of Cemetery Ledgers, to import into the Council’s Epilog Cemetery Management System, work ongoing.
  • Cemetery Management Rules – internal review now ongoing
  • Headstones/Memorials – plan being developed around improving the inspection process – tender live
  • Fence Works – multiple sites where works are being undertaken to repair, replace or refurbish a variety of fences across the district.
  • Sports Pitches – grass pitches now opened for new season – adhoc works being undertaken as required
  • Tree condition surveys of Luggie Park, Sams Wood, Lennox Park & Antonine Gardens completed – remedial works will be carried out as part of Winter Works Programme.
  • Ash dieback surveys completed within EDC Schools Estate – obtaining costs to undertake remedial works as required.
  • Ash Dieback Survey on Roadside – survey ongoing detailed results due in October
  • Cairnhill Woods  - location for Forrest Schools agreed and progressing
  • Wildflower Meadows -  end of season Cut and Lift operations progressing
  • Climate Change Park works continuing  - plug planting with corporate Team Building; Countryside Rangers with Volunteers.
  • Countryside Ranger Works -  Lenzie Moss; Bishopbriggs Park; Redhills Woodland; Kilmardinny Loch; Barloch Muir habitat management works
  • Merkland LNR - new carved log seat installed
  • Milngavie  - Milngavie Development Trust funded 4 seats at the library  – EDC arranged for installation
  • Friends of Lenzie Moss – meeting to discuss proposed works via Nature Restoration Fund
  • Clyde Valley Green Network  - meeting with this organisation to discuss nature connectivity mapping
  • Working with Run Walk Cycle ED to develop a Fairy Trail in Redmoss Estate Woods in Milton of Campsie
  • Team working with City Deal Team and Consultants in relation to Masterplan of Bishopbriggs Public Park and Bishopbriggs Relief Road
  • Rosebank Allotments – Officer working with group to undertake relevant repairs to paths, fencing etc
  • Sustainable Food Places working with partners and planning 3 community events for September.
  • Allotment Regulations – currently being reviewed by Officers in advance of a wider consultation
  • Allotment Waiting List – new weighting matrix applied to waiting list
  • Input into Additional Capital investment for drainage, active travel/access and footway surfacing.
  • The team continues to respond to high volume of open space, tree and bereavement enquires, along with planning application consultations and complaints.
  • Planning application responses and support to Planning Team ongoing
  • Open Space audit work for input into the Grounds Maintenance System ongoing for Milngavie & Bearsden.
  • Assisted a number of Community Groups with Litter Picking resources across EDC

Mugdock Country Park

  • Ranger events during August:
    • Mugdock Sensational Safari – Evening Adventure
    • Tattie Raft Race – Lennoxtown
    • Wildlife Weans Mugdock: Natural Art
    • Sensory Sunday – Forest School for Wee Folk
    • Go Batty in Kirkintilloch
    • Go Batty in Bearsden
    • Forest School – Whittling
    • Forest School for Adults – Hapa Zome
    • Evening Guided Walk – Canal History and Wildlife
    • Family Cinema – Mario Brothers, The Movie
  • Rangers conservation activities included repairing fencing, digging drainage ditches, mending boardwalk, tree felling, block unwanted desire line paths, cutting back invasive non native species;
  • Warden tasks included grass cutting and strimming around the Park, Mugdock Castle, Walled Garden, tree maintenance, cleaning buildings and outdoor assets, emptying bins, checking car parks and play parks, improving Courtyard and maintenance Yard;
  • Continued patrols of Craigend Quarry with repairs as necessary – mainly where burrows had been dug under the fence;
  • Visitor Centre staff refreshed the layout of the Visitor Centre, took bookings for events and room/land hire, had a summer children’s trail to sell, took tours to Mugdock Castle, sold gift shop items;
  • Marketing was through social media, website, adverts in the community magazine and parklife;
  • Development projects – Tree planting work, Mugdock Castle Maze, BBQ shelter replacements;
  • Scottish Water Rangers based at the Park and carried out patrols at Milngavie Reservoirs.

Waste Services

  • There were 1925.1 tonnes of residual waste collected and disposed of at Mavis Valley through the Clyde Valley Residual waste contract.
  • August saw 8801 resident visits to the Household Waste & Recycling Centre.
  • Following on from the recent advertising campaigns for food waste participation, the teams collected and processed 234 tonnes of food waste from the Kerbside throughout August.
  • Special uplifts completed in ten days 87%
  • Kerbside Garden Waste collected in August was 1137.94 Tonnes
  • Kerbside, cans, plastic & glass collected in August was 429 Tonnes
  • Officers continue to work with Procurement and Digital Transformation teams to progress and tender a new digital system for modernising the waste service.
  • The team lead and event at Cadder Church Eco group where two members of the team went along shared videos and held a presentation on local recycling issues.

Fleet Services

  • During the period 1/8/23 to 31/8/23 there were 184 vehicles/plant inspected in line with the servicing schedule.
  • We currently have one vacant mechanics post that has now closed, we are interviewing to fill this post 26.9.23
  • 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 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 03 for both Traffic and Compliance and a 100% first time pass rate for annual tests.
  • Training has been organised to ensure our mechanics stay up to date with relevant legislation and inspection techniques.