How Good Is Our Service - March 2023

Monthly Performance Report

On this page you will find information on:

• Assets and Facilities
• Customer and Business Support Services
• East Dunbartonshire Leisure and Culture Trust
• Education
• Finance & Audit
• Health and Social Care Partnership
• Housing
• Land Planning and Development
• Legal and Democratic Services
• Neighbourhood Services
• Organisational Transformation
• Place and Community Planning
• Roads and Environment

Assets and Facilities

Property Maintenance

Voids performance has dropped in March to 88% from 91% in February, however this remains a positive figure and is well above our target of 85%. Improvement measures implemented continue to have a positive impact on turnaround times and our objective is to maintain and improve performance going forward.

Property Maintenance have achieved our target of 100% for Gas Servicing in March with 510 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.

Reactive repairs are ongoing and we continue to perform well in dealing with emergency and non-emergency repairs. The Care & Repair service continues to operate well, with Aids & Adaptation works ongoing and progressing well across the stock.

The Smoke & Heat alarm installation programme has reached its conclusion and we have achieved our plan of visiting all properties across the estate in line with Government targets with more recent installations meaning 97% of properties are now fitted with Smoke & Heat alarms. The remaining properties have been no access and the service will utilise the council’s No Access Policy to assist in meeting our legal obligations and we will continue to schedule these installations as and when tenants make contact. We continue to carry out the installation of Smoke & Heat alarms for residents in East Dunbartonshire eligible through our Care & Repair service and this is being well received. We are also referring residents who do not meet the criteria to Scottish Fire and Rescue Service where they can request a Home Fire Safety visit to determine whether SFRS can provide them with assistance.

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 displaced meetings are continuing with the aim to secure suitable alternative positions for displaced employees. Recruitment of all vacant positions is on-going and following open day sessions last month, interviews were held in March with further appointments made. Open adverts are currently live on myjobscotland until the end of June and recruitment will progress following submission of applications.

All FM Lead and Catering Co-ordinator positions are filled and staff training is on-going.

An online catering consultation exercise was released in January and closed at the beginning of February. This consisted of two online surveys for Stakeholders to complete in relation to Primary and Secondary school meals. The aim was to gain feedback regarding the catering service to shape the future delivery of the service and assist with menu planning. Completed surveys have been reviewed and analysed and a report will be submitted to Council in April detailing the results. A review of the current lunch menu is underway and feedback gathered from the consultation will inform menu changes.

The uptake of free school meals in Primary schools for the month of March was below target, however there was improvement compared to previous months. The target was achieved in Secondary schools. Our focus remains on improving the uptake in the lower performing schools. Significant work was undertaken to ensure the lunch menu complies with the revised nutritional regulations and the Food for Life Served Here Bronze award. 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 worked with the Soil Association and was awarded the Food for Life Served Here Bronze award in December. The award recognises our commitment to provide health nutritious meals using seasonal ingredients that are at least 75% freshly prepared. Our aim is to work towards the next level of award status.

Estates

There are 73 Operational Assets which require an annual Gas Safety Check. For the month of March, 17 properties required an annual Gas Safety Check. These properties were serviced prior to the anniversary date. With robust measures in place to monitor performance we are confident that all safety checks will be completed throughout the year. The annual gas safety checks for 2023 have been scheduled in for April and May 2023 with our current contractors. The remaining months of 2023 will be scheduled in via a new contractor(s) once appointed through the Scotland Excel Framework.

The Phase 2 Boiler Replacement programme is progressing, with new boilers installed at Mosshead PS and Millersneuk PS with contractors on site at the following schools: Castlehill PS, Torrance PS, Holy Family PS and Colquhoun Park PS. The remaining schools will be scheduled in between May and over the summer holiday period with no (or very little) disruption to the schools. New boilers were installed in Hillhead Community Centre and Torrance Community Centre.

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.

The Quality Assurance service continue to inspect the 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. During the month of March a new lease agreement was finalised within Enterprise House, with three further suites in Enterprise House now under offer with a proposed lease start date in early April 2023. At present the non-operational estate is over 94% occupied. 

Officers are working with the Antermony Development Trust to conclude the formal Community Asset Transfer of Antermony Loch in early course.

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 sale of Kelvinbank Resource Centre concluded in March with a capital receipt in excess of £450,000 secured.

The Council recently completed the acquisition of a strip of land at Canalside, Twechar which completed the site assembly to help facilitate the proposed Twechar Outdoor Pursuit Centre. 

Development & Investment

Phase 2 of the Boclair Academy project, which involves the demolition of the original building and the development of car parking, wider external spaces and an additional sports pitch continues to progress well, with the original building almost completely cleared from the site. The project remains due for completion in early June 2023.

Phase 1 of the new Allander Leisure Centre successfully completed in mid-February, with the facility opening to the public on 6th March 2023. The Adult Resource Centre area of the building, which houses services previously located at Kelvinbank, Kirkintilloch, opened to service users on 9th March 2023. Phase 2 of the project, involving the demolition of the old Leisure Centre, construction of the Sports Dome and final phase of car parking is now underway and due to finish in October 2023.

Good progress continues to be made on the construction of the new Additional Support Needs School in Kirkintilloch. Internally, the building is well progressed and the sample classroom was recently made available for quality inspection by all parties. The sensory trail fit-out is well progressed as are services installations, ceilings, decoration and flooring. Externally, surfacing and hard landscaping makes good progress and preparations are now underway for the installation of the MUGA within the playground. 

The Kirkintilloch Community Sports Complex is now substantially complete. A final section of the works to finalise the bund arrangements on the site will continue during Spring 2023 though this will have no bearing on the operation or occupancy of the remainder of the site. 

The development of affordable housing at Kerr St, Kirkintilloch is now complete and tenants are in the process of moving into the newly finished properties. Capital works across the Council’s existing Affordable Housing stock, including kitchen and bathroom replacement, roof replacement, External Wall Insulation projects and central heating replacement all remain in progress.

A contractor and design team have commenced development of proposals for each of the two lots which comprise the Council’s next Affordable Housing Investment Programme, involving up to 11 sites and which aims to further increase the supply of affordable housing in East Dunbartonshire over the next 5 years. Site surveys remain underway and revised development proposals for each site are currently progressing, with a Stage 1 updated anticipated for Council following Summer recess. 

The refurbishment of Brookwood Villa continues to progress well over the period and remains on target for completion by mid-2023. Projects at Twechar Canalside, forming a new Community Outdoor Pursuits Centre and affordable housing development, and at Lennoxtown High Park, forming a new all-weather pitch and additional changing facilities are now progressing through their pre-construction phases. At Lennoxtown, a planning application has now been submitted and the project is progressing towards market testing, with a combined Stage 1 / 2 report seeking approval for the tendered construction sum and commencement of construction work anticipated in June 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 construction of new all-weather pitches are progressing well at both Killermont PS and Holy Family PS. Both are now substantially complete with final finished surfaces at each due to be installed when air temperatures have increased. A series of projects across the school estate were undertaken over Easter 2023, including the commencement of works to increase the capacity of Bishopbriggs Academy via x2 modular classroom units, due for completion by Summer 2023.

The Service continues to develop the next phase of a buildings 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.

Key Achievements / Areas of Focus

• Achieved 100% compliance for Gas Servicing with focus on this continuing going forward.
• Continued positive level of performance in void turnaround times with 88% 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 processes within Voids to ensure turnaround times exceed our performance target.
• Assess and improve functionality of Total Mobile and the integration with Servitor to enable a more streamlined and efficient service.
• Improve communications with customers and stakeholders to ensure the highest level of service delivery.
• Continue to utilise robust reporting mechanisms for enhanced performance and service delivery.
• 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 April and May with contractors.
• 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 with recruitment exercise to fill identified vacant FM positions.

Customer and Business Support Services

Communications & Engagement

Key areas of focus in March for the Communications & Engagement Team included the opening of phase 1 of the new Allander Leisure Centre, Scottish Apprenticeship Week and an Engine Idling Campaign. There were 10 media releases issued (up from eight in February) and four photocalls, and a total of 28 media enquiries 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 £5,504 (compared to £1,288 in February). Social media posts continued to generate good interaction across a range of themes. There were 94 Facebook posts generating a reach of 620k and engagement of over 54.8k. There were also 91 Tweets generating a potential reach of 2.09 million with 404 likes and 1.2k click throughs. The top posts for engagement on Facebook and Twitter in March were in relation to the opening of the Allander, the engine campaign and the suspension of strike action by the EIS in Bearsden.

Corporate Performance

In March 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 March, the Customer Services team continued to deliver customer services across all channels. Average call response times were well within the three-minute target for the month at 1 minute and 57 seconds. Recruitment and training of new recruits continued to be a priority and refresher training across the existing team also continued to be a focus for the month. In the 24/7 ERC, preparation for the migration from analogue to digital phone lines remains a key focus, include significant data cleansing work. A total of 153 (up from 87 in February) direct messages through social media were received and actioned (118 Facebook, 35 Twitter). A total of 151 direct messages were sent (131 on Facebook, 15 Twitter). Face to face appointment demands, including registration appointments, continued to be met in the four Community Hubs.

Revenues & Benefits

The Revenues and Benefits team have continued to process Council Tax and Benefits services and administration of the Scottish Welfare Fund. Work continues to implement a new Document Management System to replace the current system which is approaching end of life. The team completed the annual billing process issuing bills to all East Dunbartonshire residents. The team are processing applications under the UK Government Energy Bill Support Scheme Alternative Funding scheme which provides support to residents who do not have a direct relationship with an energy supplier. 

Shared Services

The Shared Services team continue to provide support across all Council services. The Education team distributed the placing request applications to Head Teachers to allow them to complete their 2023/24 classifications. The team also completed the payment in lieu of Free School Meals to 1029 families (1700 pupils) totalling £68,000. The Residential Team continue to experience a high demand for public funding for clients already in care homes as self-funders fall below the charging threshold of £29,750. 

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 2700 tickets in March and dealt with over 800 telephone calls. ICT continue to support the migration of services to Microsoft 365 in partnership with the Business and Digital Change Team. Over 900 users were migrated to M365 during the month. The ICT Security team continue to monitor the estate and perimeter defences alongside ongoing improvements to ensure that our systems and data are protected.

Key Achievements / Areas of Focus

Communications & Engagement

• Delivered communications launching the opening of phase 1 of the new Allander Leisure centre. This included a photocall, press release and social media.
• Promotion of the Provost planting of the Queen’s Green Canopy ‘Tree of Trees’ at Kilmardinny House.
• Launched the Breathe Easier engine idling campaign with radio adverts, photocall, social media and video creation.
• Promotion of Keep Scotland Beautiful’s Spring Clean campaign with local images, social media posts and sharing of partner messages.
• Delivered communications announcing the return of the Kirkintilloch Canal Festival with press release, website and social media.
• Promotion of Council support for key dates and initiatives including Scottish Apprenticeship Week, International Women’s Day, Earth Hour, Epilepsy Awareness and World Autism Acceptance Week.

Corporate Performance

• Publication of the annual East Dunbartonshire Public Performance Report on the Council Website
• Technical note and analysis paper issued to coincide with the publication of Local Government Benchmarking data for 2021/22
• Evaluation of the ongoing tender in regards Councils insurance arrangements
• Additional data support provided for the ongoing inspection of Children’s Services
• Continued Business Objects assistance provided to the Change team in relation to ongoing transformation projects
• Collation of Business Improvement Plans for 2023-26 across all service areas

Customer Services

• Continued focus on recruitment of vacancies to the team
• Training of newly appointed agents on customer service delivery across all channels
• Continued CCTV monitoring in the ERC and participation in the project to replace CCTV infrastructure and monitoring equipment
• Continuing with roll-out of the Netcall telephony upgrade to improve call handling and performance management
• Contributing to the CRM replacement project to deliver a new and improved customer relationship management system that will enhance efficiency and service delivery.

Revenues and Benefits

• The team issued 52,700 Council Tax bills, 580 reminders, and 10,000 benefits notifications.
• The team issued 580 Non-Domestic Rates bills and 50 reminders and received 376 Scottish Water applications
• The team dealt with over 4,100 telephone enquiries in March.

Shared Services

• The Education team processed payments in lieu of Free School Meals for the Easter Holidays. 
• The Care of Gardens service started for 2023. Existing users were contacted and the applications closed on 31st March.
• A kick off meeting for this year’s Canal Festival took place.
• The General Team had to compress the process for overtime processing to meet the deadline due to Easter holidays.
• The Residential Team added 69 service agreements have been entered on to the system for new care home residents.
• The Homecare Team added 328 service agreements to Carefirst for clients receiving either a Homecare Service or Direct Payment.
• The DP Audit Team are scanning documents from historic cases in preparation for the accommodation moves.

ICT Services

• ICT Services are working closely with the Business and Digital Change Team to implement M365. This includes:
  
  • Migration of 900 mailboxes for PNCA, CMT and HSCP.
  • Migrated users to the new environment on their mobile phones, issuing new phones were there are compatibility issues.

• The Infrastructure Team completed the provision of ICT equipment at the new Allander Resource Centre (ARC) including a new computer suite for the service users.
• The Infrastructure Team completed the preparation for upgrades to the network at St Ninians and Kirkintilloch High School.

A new contract for the Wide Area Network was concluded which will see a significant increase in the bandwidth across the estate.

East Dunbartonshire Leisure and Culture Trust

Leisure Centres

The new Allander Leisure Centre opened during period 12 on March 6 2023. Following the pandemic Leisure Centres have now returned to pre-pandemic headcounts and will surpass these levels with the opening of the new Allander Leisure Centre.

Libraries

For period 12 there were 38,952 visits in person and digital usage was 70,573, totalling 109,525. This represents 140% of the overall target for the period, which has seen a significant uplift in both digital and physical usage. 

Period 12

Target: 78,207

Actual: 109,525

Detail	Actual	Target	Actual as % of target
Physical	38,952	31,329	124%
Digital	70,573	46,878	150%
Total	109,525	78,207	140%

Museums

For period 12 there were 3,021 visits in person and digital usage was 6,181, totalling 9,202. This represents 250% of the overall target for the period. The digital visitor figure has seen a substantial increase in period 12, due to increased visits to the new online EDLC collections catalogue website and enhanced social media engagement for Local History Month 2023. Visits in person achieved 341% of target, largely due to the re-introduction of Local History Month during March.

Period 12

Target: 7,589
Actual: 9,202

Detail	Actual	Target	Actual as % of target
Physical	3,021	886	341%
Digital	6,181	2,793	221%
Total	9,202	3,678	250%

Sports Development attendance returned to normal from the 13th of the month with the return to Allander classes following the opening of the new building. There are also some additional swimming lessons planned in which should boost attendance over the coming months.

Key Achievements / Areas of Focus

Leisure Centres

The new Allander Leisure Centre opened its doors on Monday 6 March 2023.

Gym membership levels and income across all three Centres was impressive during the last period of the financial year with increases including the EDC Free Access Scheme.

At KLC the EDC Schools work experience pilot came to its conclusion. Both students finished with a better understanding of what their future career route would look like after the broad introduction to EDLC operations. One participated in a NPLQ course as a finish to the experience and the other is with the assistance of EDC investigating taking the REPS2 Gym Instructor qualification externally.

The Leisuredrome and KLC replaced the gym equipment during week commencing 27 February (KLC) and 6 March (LD). Initial feedback from gym users has been very positive and the significant investment is welcomed at both Centres. The replacement of the gym equipment completed the upgrading of the gym equipment at all three facilities.

Cultural Services

School visits to the Auld Kirk Museum increased in period 12. The Lillie Art Gallery hosted the popular Bearsden Art Club exhibition, and the popular Get Creative art class programme all contributed to considerable increased usage for the period.

The higher than anticipated increase in footfall also indicates improved customer confidence and desire to re-engage with services.

Sports Development

250 primary 7 children from 19 schools and 24 teams took part in our primary 7 Transition Football festival on Monday 27 March at Huntershill Sports Hub.

The McDonald’s Fun Football Friday is back in full swing with 70 children participating across 2 venues for our FREE drop-in football.

Torrance FC and Baljaffray FC have recently re accredited at Silver level of the Scottish FA Quality Mark scheme with the assistance of our Football Programme Coordinator and the Scottish FA.

Work with ICT to allow coaches to use the tablets for registers and marking up achievements in OnCourse has been delayed with the roll out of M365.

Education

Overview of Progress

• Following consultation with all stakeholders, the Education Service Plan and Business Improvement Plan 2023 – 2026 were finalised. The Service Plan will be shared with the Education Committee for noting.
• Following Early Years and Out of School Care consultation and the evaluation of Snack and Play/ASN Playscheme provision, the Early Years Strategic Plan 2022 – 2025 was completed and approved by the Education Committee. This plan sets out key priorities, outcomes, milestones and improvement actions for the Service.
• The Education Leadership team planned the strategic calendar for Session 2023/24.

Early Years and Supporting Families

• Child Protection (CP) training was delivered to ensure that all Early Years staff have the knowledge and understanding to respond to child protection concerns in a timely manner, identifying concerns, sharing information and taking prompt action. Pre and post evaluations indicated an increase in staff confidence in recognising types, signs and indicators of neglect and abuse; as well as confidence in responding to, reporting and recording CP concerns and disclosures.
• The How Good is our Early Learning and Childcare Toolkit was launched in March 2023. This is designed to support Early Years Centres with self-evaluation processes. It can also inform Standards and Quality Reporting and priorities for Centre Improvement Planning. Additional support and advice on the use of the toolkit will be provided during Learning Partnership Group meetings and focus visits to centres.

Primary, Secondary and ASN Schools

• A team of pupils from Millersneuk Primary School won the Council wide heats of the annual Euroquiz competition, organised in partnership with the Scottish European Educational Trust. These pupils will now participate in the national finals in Edinburgh.
• 33 Primary Depute Heads participated in training on self-evaluation for continuous improvement, designed and implemented by the Quality Improvement Team. Content was highly evaluated and participants identified themes they would like to explore in more detail next session, as part of the new depute leadership forum.
• All primary schools participated in equity focus visits to quality assure the use and impact of pupil equity funding to improve attainment and outcomes for learners, with a particular focus on the poverty-related attainment gap. Findings will be included in the annual Pupil Equity Funding report for the Education Committee.
• A few probationers who were identified as “cause for concern” in December 2022 are on track to achieve “satisfactory” in their final profile. Comprehensive support remains in place for those who have moved to their final profile as a “cause for concern”.
• Staff from all sectors will represent the Council in the new Expressive Arts National Network facilitated by Education Scotland. A new Expressive Arts channel has been established within the Education Service's Professional Learning Channel to facilitate professional learning and networking.
• All Head Teachers participated in multi-agency Child Protection and Safeguarding training.
• All secondary schools and most primary schools signed up for the Reading Schools accreditation programme, which is run by the Scottish Book Trust to improve reading culture in schools. To date, 3 schools have achieved Gold status, 8 have achieved Silver status and 15 have achieved Core accreditation.
• Primary and Early Years Literacy Champions continue to collaborate to focus on sharing practice, engaging in professional dialogue and reflecting on their own approaches to teaching Literacy. Feedback indicates that almost all attendees highly value the opportunity to participate and feel more confident in sharing what they have learned with colleagues within their own establishments.
• Thomas Muir Primary and Turnbull Academy continue to be involved in Assessment and Moderation professional learning with the West Partnership, leading to improvement in professional confidence and a shared understanding of standards of achievement. 
• All eleven Quality Assurance and Moderation Support Officers (QAMSOs) have completed their training with Education Scotland in leading Assessment and Moderation. This will inform the training programme in Assessment and Moderation across the Education Service next session.
• 304 young people from across 6 schools completed the Cycling Scotland Bikeability Level 2 course.
• Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA) coordinators from all schools met to discuss SQA refreshed estimate guidance for 2023 exams to support how assessment evidence is gathered in line with national standards. Data was shared with all schools to support continued improvement in literacy and numeracy levels in the senior phase.
• Kirkintilloch High School were invited by Education Scotland to present at a national event on the role and impact of youth workers in schools in supporting young people and the curriculum. The presentation received high praise from delegates and will be shared with all schools.
• As part of the National Thematic Review of the curriculum, Education Scotland visited Kirkintilloch High School for two days. Feedback highlighted several strengths including the breadth of the curriculum offer and the bespoke pathways that had been developed to support young people.
• Curricular Professional Discussion Group meetings for all subject areas were held over a three week period. The focus for Principal Teachers was on SQA refreshed estimate guidance, National Qualification verification and moderation across the Broad General Education (BGE).

Key Areas of Focus

• Managers and teams across the Education Service will complete the annual Standards & Quality report, summarising performance, achievements and successes, along with key areas of focus for improvement next session.
• The Quality Improvement team will finalise the Career-Long Professional Learning (CLPL) calendar for next session and share this with Head Teachers and schools before the end of session.
• All schools and centres will focus on

Finance & Audit

Overview of Progress

The month of March saw the Finance Team progressing work on the Oracle Fusion General Ledger replacement and on year end planning. 

The General Fund Revenue and Capital Monitoring Reports to Period 10 were prepared ready for the Policy and Resources Committee on 6 April 2023.

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 have been focussing on finishing the 2022/23 audit plan, with audits for the Council and the HSCP underway. Work recently completed includes Trading Standards, Homelessness and Anti-Social Behaviour audits. Work nearing completion includes ICT Back Ups and the Finance General Ledger.

The Corporate Fraud Team have been focusing on progressing National Fraud Initiative matches which been received. These are being prioritised, with higher risk matches being worked through first. 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. 

Key Achievements / Areas of Focus

• Focus on year end tasks. Processes commenced for the delivery of the 2022/23 accounts and other year end processes.
• The Oracle Fusion General Ledger system replacement is continuing to be progressed, with project planning, training and workshops arranged with subject matter experts.
• 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.
• Work has continued to complete the 2022/23 Internal Audit Plan, with work progressing across a number of Council and HSCP services.
• The 2023/24 audit plan has been prepared and was presented to the April 2023 Audit & Risk Management Committee.
• Corporate Fraud are investigating allegations received, focusing on suspected fraud or error within Education, Housing and Revenues Services and on National Fraud Initiative matches.

Health and Social Care Partnership

Overview of Progress

The HSCP and its staff continue to work through a challenging period of time with a combination of ongoing covid recovery impacts and higher than average winter service demand pressures. The goal remains to support the most vulnerable people in our community and promote social justice, equality and safety. In doing so, the Partnership rigorously applies its Business Continuity Plans and Covid-19 Recovery and Transition Plans.

The Covid-19 outbreak has continued to impact on a number of the performance metrics. Ongoing adaptation and prioritisation of health and social care resources in response to critical response management, the continued implementation of the vaccine programme, have all impacted on our ability to deliver the full range of services as they were delivered pre-pandemic. 

Despite these significant operational challenges, the HSCP continues to deliver on the majority of its performance indicators.

Key Achievements / Areas of Focus

Key Achievements:

• Allander Resource Centre has opened
• The strategic review of all formal and informal social supports for older people to inform a five year strategy and commissioning plan, including centre based day care, has been completed.
• Delivery of year 2 of House Project which will improve outcomes for young Care Leavers.
• Implemented the Children’s Services Plan which covers areas such as Community Mental Health and Wellbeing, Keeping Children Safe, Corporate Parenting and Healthy Lifestyles.
• Implemented The Promise with a focus on Family Group Decision Making.
• Implementation of the Children and Young People’s Mental Health and Wellbeing Framework.
• Promotional activity in support of:
• World Oral Health Day
• Ovarian Cancer awareness month
• Eating Disorders awareness week
• International Women’s Day
• World Kidney Day
• World Sleep Day
• Staff Appreciation Day
• Young Carers Action Day
• Volunteering with the Patient Service User & Carer group
• Power of Attorney
• Stop Smoking
• Connect ED session

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 od their own, as equal partners in care and refresh the HSCP Carers Strategy.
• 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/Intellectual 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.

Housing

Overview of Progress

The Housing service is made up of 4 teams, Estates, Rents, Strategy & Systems along with Homelessness and there are currently 62 members of staff working within these teams.

Housing manages 3782 social rented properties, 3730 of these are mainstream accommodation and 52 are used for Homeless Temporary Accommodation. The service also manages 67 Lead Tenancies which are rented from either private landlords (48) or Housing Associations (19), to assist with accommodating homeless households.

At present, the Housing list for East Dunbartonshire has 3477 applications, made up of the following:

General Waiting list 2500 applicants waiting (31 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 581 applicants (39 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 233 applicants (53 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 7 applicants (4 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, 15 properties have been re-let; all 14 mainstream properties and 1 buy back

(13 general needs properties and 2 sheltered properties).

They were let to the following queues:

• 7 were let to applicants on the transfer queue
• 3 was let to applicants on the general waiting list queue
• 5 were let to applicants on the priority homeless queue.

Key Achievements / Areas of Focus

Strategy & Systems

Key Achievements

• The new IHMS implementation is progressing, with functional testing progressing well in the estate’s module. The build phase of the rents, allocations and housing advice modules are now complete. A few issues have been flagged during testing of these modules and will be worked on over the next couple of weeks.
• New Systems Officers are assisting with the data cleansing of saffron, to ensure a smooth transition when migrating to the new system, while also assisting with year-end processing and reporting.
• Performance Monitoring Officers are completing year end performance statistics and compiling data to allow us to submit the ARC return at the end of May.
• Working on the Digital Telecare and part of the Project Board to ensure the successful transition of analogue telecare to digital telecare throughout the sheltered complexes.
• Allocations policy review has been initiated and an action plan has been put together, detailing key milestones in reviewing this intricate policy.
• A staff consultation day was held on 23rd March to gather feedback from staff on the Allocations Policy review.
  
  • CHR (Common Housing Register) review letters were sent out to approximately 3200 applicants asking them to submit any changes in circumstance to the Housing team by 14th April.

Areas of focus

• IHMS progression (3-year project).
• CHR Housing Application waiting list review.
• Performance Monitoring/ARC.

Housing Operations – Estates

Key Achievements

• 4 new Anti-social cases received and all 4 of these cases resolved within the month received.
• 12 nominations to Registered Social Landlords being considered for allocation of their stock.
• Percentage of tenancies refused was 19%. This is a decrease from 28% in February.
• Percentage of tenancy sustainment increased from 96% in March 2023 from 91% in February 2023.
• Monthly Housing Liaison meeting attended to discuss cases with Social Work, Antisocial Team and Police Scotland.
• Internal Anti-Social Audit complete.
• Monthly meeting with Police Scotland and Community Safety to discuss more serious anti-social cases.
• Void rent loss has decreased, joint working with the void and rewire/asbestos teams continues.

Areas of focus

• Improve void re-let times through joint working with void team.
• Internal audit of ASB – action plan points to progress.
• Identify training needs for team.

Housing Operations – Rents and Tenant Participation

Key Achievements

• 12 tenants assisted and successfully awarded payment from Hardship Fund towards rent payments, totalling £13,310.61.
• The Rents Team continue to support the change team with the development of the IHMS (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.
• Active Tenant Rent Arrears are, £986,147.15 which is a decrease on February’s figure (£1,293,742.03).

Areas of focus

• Former Tenant Arrears are £769,042.00, which is an increase from February’s figure (£685,170.83).
• Team continues to work on former rent arrears to bring this figure down.
• Reducing active tenant rent arrears will continue to be a priority for the Housing Service and during the month of April appointments at Job Centres will resume, to assist tenants in receipt of the Universal Credit housing element. 

Homelessness & Prevention

Key Achievements

• 32 Homeless applications taken.
• No Homeless households waiting longer than 3 years for an offer of settled accommodation. Only one applicant waiting longer than 2 years. 
• Cost of living - 3320 responses - all have been issued their £147.00 (up to 3 x £49).
• Work on the new vegetable patch began at our multiple occupancy accommodation at Drymen Road, Bearsden. This will allow residents to grow their own vegetables.
• Care Inspectorate inspection at Ravenswood (interim accommodation).
• Internal audit of homelessness service concluded – positive report with no major risks identified.

Project 101

• Continuation of drop-in sessions and budget friendly cooking.
• Young people have been learning new kitchen skills, including food hygiene, preparation and cooking.
• Continued work with young people in creating partnerships locally, to assist with employability skills and to gain employment, while also helping with tenancy sustainment.

Land Planning and Development

Overview of Progress

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

Land Planning Policy

• The Draft Circular Economy Strategy was approved at PNCA Committee in November and subsequently the consultation was carried out between 4 January and 3 February 2023. The report of findings will be presented to a future PNCA Committee.
• Following adoption of Local Development Plan 2 on 28 November 2022, the team has been carrying on notification and publication procedures required by legislation. Local Development Plan 2 now constitutes the adopted plan for East Dunbartonshire and Local Development Plan 1 (adopted 2017) has now been superseded. A Technical Note was issued to Members noting the adoption of LDP2.
• A Revised Draft NPF4 was laid before the Scottish Parliament for approval on 8 November 2022 and the Scottish Parliament voted to approve the document as laid before them on 11 January 2023. Now approved, the Framework was adopted and published by Scottish Ministers on 13 February 2023. Further information was provided to Members in a Technical Note.
• Following August 2022 PNCA Committee approval of two pieces of planning guidance, consultation has been undertaken. Analysis of the responses received has now been undertaken and the final guidance was approved at PNCA in January 2023. 
• Work is ongoing on a new Active Transport Strategy for East Dunbartonshire, which will reflect the Active Travel Discussion consultation in 2021 and align to work on the Climate Action Plan. Officers have finalised the evidence base for the new ATS which Members considered at the Transport Working Group in December and was approved at PNCA in January 2023. 

Sustainability Policy

• Work on the Climate Action Plan and Local Heat & Energy Efficiency Strategy is continuing. Work is under way to identify opportunities for emissions reduction across the Council’s own estate and operations and across the whole of East Dunbartonshire. These will inform the development of pathway options to achieve net zero emissions at corporate and area-wide levels. Consultation with key internal stakeholders took place during December and an external stakeholder workshop was held in January. Following on from this, a progress report on the Local Heat & Energy Efficiency Strategy was presented to the Climate Change Member Officer Group on 31st January along with an update and discussion on current and proposed work to address the cost of living crisis and reduce emissions from housing. While good progress has been made in preparing the LHEES, work is currently delayed at the final preparatory stage due to data sharing issues affecting all Scottish local authorities and as a result of changes to the LHEES guidance and methodology set by the Scottish Government. Progress is being made in resolving this issue and we are continuing to work towards the statutory target to have the LHEES for our area in place by the end of 2023.
   
• 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 will be out and about across East Dunbartonshire assessing play areas and facilities in the period until May.  The outcome of the assessment will inform the priority actions on play to be included in the draft Greenspace Strategy.

GIS Team

• The team has carried out GIS analysis for the many 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 many consultations across East Dunbartonshire. The team has created a number of dashboards and a story map relating to the 20 minute neighbourhood project, to help understand where in East Dunbartonshire we need to improve the accessibility of services such as transport, education, housing and the abundance of amenities. The dashboards and storymap help provide a breakdown of the analysis we have conducted and will help influence EDC teams planning for the future. We are planning to show this to other sectors within EDC in the coming months. We have also been working with the City Deal team, exchanging spatial data and producing maps to help understand key aspects of the Westerhill Development Road project. We have also updated key spatial data for the Environmental Health team, producing maps for their team also. We are at the final stage of preparing our users groups release, this should be live within the next month.
• The team continues to provide technical support to Community Protection and Development Applications to improve efficiently and ensure we are in line statutory guidance and regulations through IDOX. Assistance was also provided to the Housing Service by exporting data from IDOX for the IHMS Project. The team have developed new templates and made improvements to historic ones. We have also deleted a number of out of use templates, that were clogging memory in the system, to help it run smoother. We have also developed a variety of new IDOX templates for the teams in Community Planning, which should help them with their projects.
• A list of names has been submitted for review for the Mactaggart and Mickel development in Bishopbriggs, with the names focusing on the Roman history of the site. The address change for Waterside residents is currently with Royal Mail, this has been delayed due to a logistical mistake from Royal Mail. The Council has also adopted a number of roads that have been updated and reflected on appropriate systems. We have also assisted with a number of UPRN queries from the public and also from teams across the council.

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 Find Business Support.
• The team is working on three projects funded by UK Shared Prosperity fund that encourage digital take up or enhancement, carbon reduction and additional support for Social Enterprises.
• The Business Gateway National Review continues but in the interim services continue to be delivered as usual.

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 including liaison with landowners on draft spatial layouts, and to prepare for public consultation which will start in April.
• The Westerhill Development Road design contract is now underway and the focus over the coming year will be route options assessment.
• Work continues on the next stages of the design process for Bishopbriggs Town Centre and Bishopbriggs Park. 
• 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 Regent Gardens project is being progressed and work is ongoing to try secure a main works contractor. 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.
• Work to prepare for the Shared Prosperity Fund has been ongoing. Projects have been identified and are being developed for implementation over the next 2.5 years.
• The Lennoxtown Main Street Improvement Project is ongoing to develop outline designs.
• Working ongoing to support Milngavie BID as it moves towards re-ballot, and the Kirkintilloch BID Streeting Group.

Traffic & Transport Team

• The tender process is progressing to try secure a works contractors for Canniesburn Toll Improvement Project. Four Traffic Regulation Order (TRO) will be 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 51 applications and validated 63 applications.
• The Building Standards team have received 147 building warrants and approved 157 applications. 
• The Enforcement Team opened 7 new cases.. 
• The Development Applications team have been busy preparing Reports for the next meeting of Planning Board in April  .
• The Enforcement Team served a Notice to require the cessation of an unauthorised use which was felt to significantly harm the amenity of neighbouring residents.
• The Team continue to provide applicants including the Councils Major Assets and Housing teams with pre application advice and support.
• The Development Applications Team have published an updated Customer Charter for Enforcement which is now  available on the Councils website.

Key Achievements / Areas of Focus

• Completion of Discretionary Fund Covid Grant to businesses
• Funding Secured for the Campsie Memorial Hall.

Legal and Democratic Services

Overview of Progress

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.

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

Key Achievements / Areas of Focus

• During February, the Team processed 16 contract form reviews, 2 Contract award letters, 22 taxi licence applications, and 7 grants.
• In light of the 100% performance, it is not proposed to take any steps at this time other than to continue to monitor progress against the set PIs.
• Two members of the Litigation and Licensing Team delivered a presentation to Education staff undertaking the Aspire Middle Leadership programme.  The presentation outlined the role of Legal Services within the Council and provided practical guidance on how to respond to various legal issues which routinely arise within Education establishments, including responding to legal correspondence, dealing with parental disputes and requests for access to information.
• Award of third transport modelling contract for modelling to support the design of the Westerhill Development Road.
• Pre-construction services delivery agreement and service delivery agreement contracts signed for the new Twechar Outdoor Pursuits Centre and Housing Development.
• Completion of two open market purchases for the Council’s social housing stock.
• Grant Offer issued for East Dunbartonshire Foodbank.
• Sale of Kelvinbank Resource Centre, Kirkintilloch completed.
• Contracts put in place in relation to the Council’s move to Microsoft 365 and the Council’s planning and payroll systems.
• Legal Services concluded a substantial number of contract and other transactions in advance of the Council’s financial year end on 31st March 2023 and in doing so supported other Services in maintaining business critical service delivery and also securing payment discounts in some instances.
• Technical Support & delivery of Registration of 66 Births, 219 Deaths & 20 Marriages in March.
• Democratic Services serviced and supported Members through a Council meeting, 2 Committees, 2 Scrutiny Panels, 2 Forums, 1 Working Party and 6 Quasi-judicial Boards in March.  Democratic Services also facilitated a hybrid meeting of the Dunbartonshire and Argyll & Bute Valuation Joint Board.
• The Information Management Team supported the receipt of 123 Freedom of Information enquires which were processed by the Team and services supported in responding. 
• 22 Data Protection spot checks were carried out across the Council estate reflecting the increased attendance in various premises.  These spot checks are an important part of the Council’s data security arrangements and are upon looked favourably by the Information Commissioner.  The actions from the spot checks are being discussed with the relevant Services and more generic learning will be shared across the organisation via the Information Management Liaison Officers (IMLO) network.

Neighbourhood Services

Overview of Progress

The Waste Team has continued the frontline service operations for the collection of over 400,000 assorted household bins over the month of March, providing residual, recycling, food, garden and special waste collections on behalf of the Authority. The team has also managed the waste and recycling collections from over 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 1911 tonnes of waste through this contract in March, ensuring our waste undergoes treatment for recycling extraction prior to being sent through an Energy from Waste process.

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

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

Replacement vehicles continue to filter through from suppliers for Roads and Environment, Property Maintenance and Facilities Management 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

• There was 1911 tonnages residual waste collected and disposed of at Mavis Valley through the Clyde Valley Residual waste contract, this is a 6% reduction on the same period last year.
• The new season of garden waste collections recommenced on Sunday 5th March, with 682 tonnes of material collection and treated in March.
• The Waste Advisors have been reviewing the waste assisted collection service, visiting our elderly residents to ensure the service is still required and satisfactory.
• Weekly audits are being carried out at our local recycling sites to monitor the illicit tipping in and around the new recycling bins.  This was an issue highlighted as a concern in recent months and the team have been liaising with the Community Protection team.
• Mavis Valley Recycling Centre returned to Summer opening hours on Sunday 19th March.
• The team continue to work in partnership with the Corporate Communications in March to produce Waste/Recycling campaigns for the year ahead.  The focus continues to be around food waste participation, with some positive, eye catching releases throughout March.
• Delivery of Statutory Fleet Maintenance and Management services throughout the period.
• 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 winter overhaul 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.

Organisational Transformation

Overview of Progress

Business & Digital Change Team

During March, the B & DC Team have continued to support services across the Council in the delivery of key strategic digital development programmes and 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 and flexible, standardised and value for money, secure.

 

Key Achievements/Areas of Focus

• Work has begun to explore a Desk Booking solution to support EDC’s Accommodation Strategy, which will enable employees to check availability in chosen sites and book desks, as and when required.
• Work has recently commenced on an Enterprise Architecture review.  This will identify all corporate business systems and specialist software in use in the Council and produce a baseline technology roadmap, and following analysis, develop a new technology roadmap that meets future delivery needs in the most efficient way.
• The IHMS team continues to work closely with the Housing service to build and configure the new Integrated Housing Management System (IHMS). Functional testing of the system is complete except for new functionality recently implemented by the supplier.  A communications plan for the remainder of phase one has been agreed and implementation of that is progressing well. User acceptance test scripts are in development for all processes. Data migration work is progressing well, with the first test cut now available for review. Development of financial interfaces, letters and reports continues.
• Round 1 of data migration was successfully completed as part of the Oracle Fusion Project, in preparation for the initial design phase of the new finance and procurement solution. Scheduling also took place for the first round of Conference Room Pilot (CRP1) sessions, which will allow key users to gain an insight to the new solution and inform the iterative development process.
• A contract has now been awarded for the redesign and replacement platforms for the EDC websites (EDC, EDLCT, HSCP) and a project initiation meeting is scheduled for April to agree the project timeline.
• Initial work has been undertaken on the development of some key processes within the new CRM platform, this has involved the completion and accreditation of online training with the provider for those involved in the project delivery.
• Over 70% of the council employees' email has been migrated from Lotus Notes to Microsoft Outlook. Work continues to complete primary mailbox migrations before migrating Shared mailboxes and archive mailboxes.  The M365 Information Governance workstream is well underway to investigate and test M365 compliance capabilities informing our future strategy for the implementation of planned service improvements.
• A review of our Workforce System (legacy HR System) has been completed allowing this system to be decommissioned and the contract to be terminated.
• Work to redevelop 9 legacy Notes based applications using next the M365 Power Platform continues. Those involved are undertaking online learning of the platform's capabilities and development will commence in the coming weeks.
• Remediation work was completed on the new eLearning platform and final communications work was passed for sign off before launch of platform.
• Contracts have been successfully awarded for our Managed Stores and RMMS services, with the planning and implementation stages of both projects, due to commence imminently.
• Work to outline requirements for new FOI system was completed and meetings held to discuss options for new system development 
• Work continues on the transition to a digital telecare platform. With the tender being live since 17th March, over 80 queries have been received from multiple interested suppliers. Evaluation panels have been confirmed with representatives from Scotland Excel and Digital Office. Future meetings will take place to focus on the coordination and management function of the new Shared ARC platform. A workshop has also been carried out on data cleansing, with guidance being sent for approval to the Technical Authority Group.  Ongoing testing of new digital alarms continues ahead of planned Virgin Media digital migrations this June/July.
• Procurement process is underway towards migrating the councils Electronic Payment gateway to the Cloud ensuring its continued supportability and maintainability.

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.

Key Achievements / Areas of Focus

• Continued support for employees and managers on HR policy based and guidance noted, with support in attendance on ER case work
• Continued engagement with the Trade Unions on strategic and operation HR initiatives.
• Promotion of Health and Wellbeing Campaigns
• In line with the accommodation strategy, the team commenced transfer to new location in Southbank House.
• Development session with Cosla on Talentlink, the recruitment portal supporting Myjobscotland. 
• Ongoing work to support the launch of the EDC Moodle e-learning platform including; configuration of programs/courses, dynamic rules, system testing, user configuration.
• Collaboration with Business Change to support Digital Champions program to support rollout of M365.
• Within Payroll Services, the team have maintained and processed the payover of 6 payruns within timescales, with the completion of a series of statutory reports and preparation for year end.
• Following the agreed pay settlement for Teachers, updating of the spinal points commenced with testing work undertaken for the new rates ahead of the April pay date

Health & Safety

The team continuously delivers general occupational safety and health services such as:

• Incident logging, reporting and investigation, including RIDDOR.
• Investigation of industrial injury and major incidents
• Providing advice on statutory guidance, where required
• Compliance in planning, safe working and training
• Supervision and inspection while works are being undertaken
• Health and Safety Committee - Statistics reporting
• Recording and managing on-site attendance and health and safety operations at Broomhill depot and Marina HQ.

Key Achievements / Areas of Focus

Supporting Services:

• Accommodation strategy work – Health and Safety arrangements per office building
• CDM Procedure for Assets and Facilities teams and Streetscene - Review of Contractors RAMS and Construction Phase Plans for various projects and follow up site visits.
• Review of subcontractor risk assessments in relation to surveying works
• Other CDM Site Visits
• Education with local health and safety issues and concerns
• 3rd tier Health & Safety meetings to assist and guide relevant council departments

Fire, Health and Safety and Occupational Health services:

• Redesigned and implemented a new incident reporting template allowing more efficient time management, supporting FOI requests or statistic that may be required.
• Roads - HAVS management with individual employees
• Occupational Health clinics booked for capturing 2023 health surveillance.
• Redesign of Health Surveillance master
• UFAS policy review and brief of planned works
• Carry out Fire Risk Assessments as per programme - Completion of educational establishments for 2023.
• Updating of Fire Policy, Duty Holder’s procedures
• Education - PEEP for different impairments
• Working with Mungo Foundation to ensure fire safety compliance in shared premises.
• Fire safety guidance to Duty Holders and Building Managers.
• Visiting schools in relation to HS1a and HS1b forms and carrying out subsequent investigations
• Investigation of industrial injury
• Finalising development of our SP46 Quality Reviews for Gas Engineers procedure
• Collating F07 Finger Door Entrapment Risk Assessment
• Develop TBT49 - Hot drinks in primary schools
• Organising equipment for employees to meet requirements following a DSE assessments
• Individuals risk assessments supporting HR case advisers

Training:

• Property Maintenance - Organising & delivering stepladder training and delivering induction training for Voids operatives
• Reviewing and updating of training material

Procurement

During March, 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 daily workshops and business process 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 has also been preparing for work necessary to manage and support the year end process in terms of the buyers work centre and Accounts Payable.

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, M365 Licensing, Itrent, IDOX, Wide Area Network, ESRI, Lenzie Academy Professional Fees, Harestanes & Hillhead Primary Toilet refurbishments, Vehicle Purchases, whilst supporting workforce of the future planning and Business as usual workstreams.
• Participation in extensive meetings and workshops in order to scope, identify, cleanse and prepare for the implementation of the Oracle Fusion upgrade
• Completed renewals for support and maintenance of business-critical systems to facilitate remote working
• Completed the Contractual process for the re-tendered Managed Stores Service
• Extended and updated contractual arrangements to facilitate ongoing support to the LHEES (Climate Action Plan Consultancy Support) in line with updated funding terms & conditions
• Commenced with the preparatory information for the 2023/2024 School Transport contracts
• Continued work on the preparation and alignment of the 2023-2024 Annual Procurement Strategy to Organisational Climate Action Planning, Circular Economy Strategy, Community Wealth Building & the City Region Community Wish List planning.

Place and Community Planning

Overview of Progress

Community Protection Service  -  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 March, the service has continued to engage in the local Co-Production arrangement with Police Scotland. This has resulted in a significant amount of joint work and coordinated activity to protect communities across the East Dunbartonshire area. The service has 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 continued to be 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.  There continued to be a lot of engagement from the public in terms of service requests.  Amongst other things, the service delivered a full programme of food inspection and sampling activities as well as responding to consultation on proposed new developments and upcoming public entertainment events.

The Trading Standards Team was engaged in the delivery of essential consumer protection and licensing services to local consumers and businesses in order to maintain and protect a fair trading environment in East Dunbartonshire. Priority activity in March included continuing work to develop business participation in the new Trading Standards Trusted Trader Scheme for East Dunbartonshire, metrology inspection work and Tobacco and Nicotine Vapour Products compliance visits. The Licensing Advisers and Trading Standards Officers in the team have 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 has continued to undertake a broad range of front-line work for the benefit of local communities during the reporting period. Officers from the team have therefore been 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 CCTV. Officers have continued to work closely with a range of colleagues and key partners to successfully deliver appropriate interventions and to make our local communities safer. The Community Wardens have also been developing 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 are working to deliver community development and capacity building support to our four Locality areas and communities of interest.  This includes targeted capacity building in Lennoxtown to address food insecurity and poverty.

The team continues to work with Scottish Government, Home Office, and various partners to deliver the resettlement agenda across the East Dunbartonshire area.  This also includes working with partners to support the Vulnerable Persons Resettlement Scheme (VPRS), UK Resettlement Scheme (UKRS) and Ukrainian Displaced Persons.

Equalities agenda is being progressed by the team, including connecting with experts by experience, supporting the Child Poverty Action report.

Community Grant Scheme Round 2 closed on 10 February.  There were 55 eligible projects applied to the grant scheme in round two, requesting total funding of £103.783. Eleven of these groups were new groups to the Community Grant Scheme and awards are recommended to all of these new groups.  Total awards recommended by the GAC (Grants Advisory Committee) and approved by CPP Board for 54 projects equated to £71,017.  Payment of grant awards are being processed.

Officer are collaborating with GAC members to inform process and methods used to review and develop recommendations for the new Community Grant Scheme.

Officers are supporting the delivery of the Community Learning and Development (CLD) Plan 2021-24, including developing a programme of continued professional development upskilling CLD practitioners.

Officers continue to work alongside our communities to develop community-led warm spaces initiatives and deliver the East Dunbartonshire Community Warm Spaces.

Community Testing/ Vaccination Team

The winter vaccination programme has provided Covid and Flu vaccination which has been delivered to all eligible citizens aged 50 or over and those with eligible health conditions. Clinics were reduced to 2 days a week with low numbers attending. Council staff are working with the NHS to minimise queues and ensure the safety of those attending the clinic.

Key Achievements / Areas of Focus

• 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.
• Attendance at a community planning engagement workshop in Kirkintilloch with participation in sessions to develop new Locality Plan actions.
• Participation in liaison and working group activity various on food safety, public health and housing matters to keep abreast of national priorities and developments.
• Food product withdrawal and recall overseen by Environmental Health Officers due to a local food business incorrectly importing a foodstuff from Asia without adhering to the UK Border importation requirements.
• Public Health Compliance Officers updating the MIS database on premises liable for health and safety enforcement as well as delivering ad hoc housing checks for displaced Ukrainian citizens.
• Delivery of targeted patrols within our local communities aimed at tackling an increase in reports of low-level incivilities (e.g. dog fouling and littering) - a number of fixed penalty notices have recently been issued to dog owners who have allowed their dogs to foul without picking up which is an offence under the Dog Fouling (Scotland) Act 2003. 
• Delivery of patrols by our Community Wardens to tackle the problem youth disorder and antisocial behaviour within our communities, with a particular focus on the town centre area of Kirkintilloch.
• 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.
• Preparatory work around the re-introduction of the Football Friday sessions which successfully ran in both Lennoxtown and Milton of Campsie in 2022.  Hillhead has been added as an additional location for 2023 and sessions will commence in April 2023 and run to September 2023. 
• Continuation of the Junior Warden programme in local primary schools Twechar Primary School being the next recipient -there will be a number of inputs from partners including officers from the We Are With You programme, Scottish Families Affected by Alcohol and Drugs, Fearless (Junior Crime Stoppers) and the Council’s Mugdock Rangers service. 
• Increase in patrols in respect of decriminalised parking enforcement in and around a number of our primary schools.
• Delivery of routine Trading Standards and Licensing inspection and project work.
• Trading Standards Officers delivering local work related to pre-packaged goods to identify levels of metrological compliance across retail premises.
• Delivery of targeted activity by Trading Standards to maintain local business compliance with legislative requirements relating to tobacco and nicotine vapour products.
• Delivery of targeted activity by Licensing Enforcement to maintain local business compliance with legislative requirements relating to liquor licensing conditions.
• Collaboration with the Grants Advisory Committee to develop new community grant scheme
• Collate monitoring of CLD Plan 2021-24 in partnership with outcome lead
• Delivery of targeted community capacity building support
• In negotiations with Bord na Gaidhlig agree priorities and develop draft Gaelic Language Plan 2023-28 in conjunction with partners.
• Progress development of locality plans for our most deprived communities of Auchinairn, Hillhead and Harestanes, Lennoxtown and Twechar
• Host focus workshop with Ukrainian Displaced People to review resettlement support and inform future service provision.
• Working in partnership with the Child Poverty Strategic Group produce action report for 2023/24
• In partnership with relevant services produce technical note for Armed Forces convent Duties.
• To support delivery of the NHS spring vaccination programmes of flu and Covid-19 at two town centre venues, through jointly working with the GGC NHS Board.

Roads and Environment

The Roads and Environment Service continues to oversee the maintenance function and safe operation of the adopted public carriageway/footway network, adopted open spaces (including trees) and cemeteries within East Dunbartonshire. In addition, the Service also oversees the management and operations of Mugdock Country Park.

This Service area is divided into five 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. 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 previously welcomed two new members of staff to the position of Senior Roads Technician and Roads Technician with further interviews completed in mid-March for the remaining vacancies as road operatives (5), squad leader’s roads (2), LMS /RMMS Asset Coordinator (1) and Roads Network Team Coordinator (1). Unfortunately, not all vacancies have been filled with 3 of the 5 road operatives appointed, 2 of 2 roads squad leader’s appointed and the 1 roads network coordinator appointed. This leaves 2 roads operative vacancies, 1 LMS /RMMS asset Coordinator vacancy and 1 roads technician vacancy remaining to fill with secondary adverts being progressed. The service will continue to try to achieve full capacity going forward, but recruitment is proving to be a challenge in a very competitive market.

The 2022/23 capital programmes for carriageway, footway resurfacing programme and lighting projects were completed in March as we complete the financial year. The new programme of work will be confirmed in a revised Technical Note towards the end of April.

Roads Technical & Engineering

The Roads Development, Structures, Traffic, Flood Risk and Drainage Teams continue to work on 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 said farewell to Traffic Officer, Stuart Orr following 40 years’ service with the Technical & Engineering Team overseeing various traffic and pedestrian signal projects along with other valuable roads safety work. The Service welcomes Eleanor Caldwell to the vacated Traffic Officer post, and the new officer is working to familiarise themselves with the team and area.

Streetscene Operations

The three geographical based teams continue to work through the autumn/winter programme of shrub pruning and reactive works in preparation for the Spring growing season commencing. The teams are also supporting roads colleagues with the Winter maintenance works for their respective area as and when called upon to do so. 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 and arranging remedial works as required. The team manages and performs burials in the eight operational cemeteries. The recruitment process for the summer seasonal workforce has commenced but regrettably like other processes it is proving a challenge to fill the 15 vacancies with only 9 appointments made so far for the start of the new 2023 Care of Gardens Scheme.

Streetscene Technical Support Team

The team are developing and implementing projects relating to Council Strategies such as the Open Space Strategy, Local Biodiversity Action Plan, Green Networks and Food Growing (emerging).  Additionally, capital grants received from the Scottish Government are being utilised for play park improvements and Nature Restoration Grants. Other work relates to working with community groups regarding Environmental Improvement Projects including path improvement, play area renovations, amenity planting, cemetery, and allotment development. The team are looking forward to welcoming the newly appointed Team Leader who commences work on Monday 3rd April 2023.

Mugdock Country Park

The team are preparing for the spring and summer season and have recently completed the new fencing and planting at the quarry in advance of the usual increased visitors to this location at this time of year. The monthly visitor number continue to exceed expectation.

Key Achievements / Areas of Focus

Roads Network Operations Teams (including Street Lighting)

The Roads Network Operations completed 18 Winter Maintenance Treatments during March 2023.

In addition, the Roads Network Operations Team assisted Scottish Water with the emergency works on Glasgow Road at the junction with Auchenhowie Road following the significant burst of one of the mainline water pipes leading to Glasgow and supplying the surrounding area.

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

• EDC Internal Resurfacing Programme (Carriageway & Footway - non-coal tar location)
  
  • Cruachan Drive
  • Morar Crescent (footway)
  • Norwood Park
  • Callieburn Road
  • Glenwood Court (footway)
  • Carron Crescent (footway)
  • Drumgoyne Road
  • Auchinairn (service) Road 
  • North Campbell Ave (footway)
  • Glenwood Court (footway)
  • Thornwood Avenue (footway)
• EDC External Resurfacing Programme (Carriageways & Footway)
  
  • Morar Crescent
  • Auchinairn Road,
  • Kerr Street
  • Pinewoood Avenue
• Street lighting repairs continue, (albeit with reduced available resources)
• Tender issued in conjunction with Corporate Procurement for sub-contractor assistance with street lighting electrical works at times of peak workload, comprising electrician and mobile elevated work platform vehicle.
• Roads Lighting technical and operational staff have successfully completed a Health, Safety and Environmental assessment, allowing them to renew their Construction Skills Certification Scheme (CSCS) grade cards.
• 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.
• EDC Street Lighting Capital/Replacement Projects
  
  • Cloberfield Gardens, Watt Place, Dunlop Place and Stable Place, Milngavie (works in progress on site - installation now partly lit)
  • Kingsway, Kirkintilloch (works in progress on site)

Roads Technical & Engineering Teams -

Traffic

• Officers are revisiting the abandoned gateway project for Milton of Campsie.
• The flat-topped speed table in Manse Road, Bearsden has been installed, though there is some snagging.
• Disabled Persons Parking Places advertising goes live w/c 24 April for disabled bay revisions
• Installation of two new pedestrian crossings in Bishopbriggs is complete and these will be switched on when electricians are able to connect the power supply..
• 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.
• The team continue to assess areas for potential traffic calming and pedestrian crossings.
• Responding to Planning Applications.
• Responding to Lining Requests. and refreshing faded road markings
• Clachan of Campsie Temp TRO is made permanent
• The pedestrian crossing at Hayston road Junction is completed
• Commenting on various licences ie street trader licences, public entertainment licences and occasional licences.
• Dealing with various requests for temporary road closures.
• Stuart Orr retired at the end of March. A replacement has been recruited, but we were unable to appoint someone with knowledge of traffic signals and so this service may suffer.

Development

• Attend national RAUCS meeting. EDC and NLC had local RAUCS meeting on 15 March 2023
• Inspection of utility and infrastructure on sites currently being constructed. Inspections are ongoing for CAT A,B AND C and Invoices for Q3 Inspections have been sent for invoicing - Inspections for Year 2023/24 have been sent away for agreement with Utilities and we are in process of carrying out Inspections daily. We continue to Issue FPNS to Utilities on Noticing failures.
• Site meetings to monitor and inspect developments to identify any remedial works prior to adoption by EDC.
• Assist planning with applications, distribute to officers for their comments on developments.
• Process adoption enquiries from internal and external departments.
• Coordination of future works, road openings and temporary traffic management permits. Works Notices for Capital Programme 2023/24 for C/WAY/F/WAY Resurfacing are being registered on Roads Register - TTL permits are being issued on a daily basis after approval and invoices are created after works complete. We have registered the C/Way and F/way EDC Capital Programme on Register for Year 2023/24 .We continue  to Raise and Invoice TTL permits Daily for works with in EDC
• Housing sites at Kessington Farm Lane and Crieff Avenue adopted by EDC.

Drainage

• Manse Road, Bearsden. COMPLETED
• 113 Milngavie Road COMPLETED
• Boclair Road @ Milngavie Road COMPLETED
• West Chapeltown drive -capital drainage works due to start 24/4/23 – 28/4/23
• Menteith Avenue capital drainage works due to start 5/6/23 – 16/6/23
• Pendicle Road capital works due to start – 3/7/23 – 21/7/23
• West Highland Way lining works complete
• Various jobs on capital list have been visited and checked prior to planning in 2023/24
• Various c.c.t.v and vactor works planned dates T.B.C

Flooding

• River Glazert Restoration Project, Lennoxtown - Detail design works currently on going and being carried out by our consultants. Draft detail design report due end of April 23 due to Easter break.
• Kelvin Tributaries River Restoration Project - Specification of Requirements (Scope) for concept design has been provided to EDC for review by SEPA. Once this is done will be progressed to appoint a consultant.
• River Kelvin Flood Defence Maintenance Contract - WGM Ltd have completed all planned service visits to all flood defence pumping stations in EDC. No major issues reported so far however two pumps have been taken from separate stations to workshop for check, assessment, and further works. Quotes have been provided for repair and installation therefore processing this request.
• Climate Ready Park – On going.  Consultants are pulling together tender documents for re-tender in the coming weeks.
• Re-routing of John Muir Way, footpath in Lennoxtown due to eroding riverbank / path – Tendering process for these works is now closed and we are in the evaluation stages. Once this is done a successful contractor will be appointed to install a new path / route through open ground.  Thus, to avoid the original path which is causing erosion concerns and risk to public path users and will be closed once new path is in place.   
• Golf View FAS, Bearsden - JBA are currently modelling our flood scheme and proposed wetland proposals as part of the Bearsden Golf Club extension to demonstrate what impact this has on flood risk to properties at Golf View. StreetScene are considering opening the area to locals with two new access gates being installed into the scheme for locals to access for amenity purposes. There has been a request from locals to use the area for the King’s coronation in May which is being considered. The existing fencing will remain for protection.
• Civils works continue to be undertaken by our drainage team and our framework contractor George Leslie at various locations. New works and locations for new financial year 23/24 have been planned and organised for future works.

Structures

• 2023/24 General and Principal inspections programme commenced and ongoing.
• Review & response to abnormal load requests.
• Acre Valley bridge in Lennoxtown. Tree removals complete. Phase 2 strengthening works, date tbc.
• Allander bridge no3, Milngavie, graffiti removal and vegetation clearance works complete.
• Mugdock Road car park, Milngavie, retaining wall repairs ongoing. Due for completion 21 April.
• Allander Bridge at Douglas Street, Milngavie. Southern spandrel wall masonry repairs and steel plate restoration complete, North steel plate restorations due for completion 21 April, followed by upstream scour protection works.
• Marina footbridge graffiti removal and localised repainting to commence 20 April.
• Retaining wall collapse in Ellangowan car park, Milngavie. Debris removed and area fenced off. Repairs and guardrail improvement works to commence 24 April.
• Bearsden Roman Road Rail Bridge weak footway protection works commencing 24 April for a period of 3-4 weeks.
• Footbridge replacement at Bute Road, Kirkintilloch, RAMS to be revised and resubmitted for approval by EDC. Works planned for May, following completion of Roman Road.
• Waltry bridge parapet strike, Antermony Rd, Milton of Campsie. Debris cleared and temporary edge protection in place. Repairs programmed for June.
• Commence procurement of Clober Road, Milngavie, replacement footbridge.
• Commence procurement of Wester Gartshore replacement footbridge.
• Network Rail bridge examination reviews and remedial works.

Greenspace & Streetscene Teams

Streetscene Operations

• Preparations underway for the commencement of the summer cyclical works.
• Street cleansing and mechanical sweeping; removal of fly posting and uplifting of fly tipping, mechanical street sweeping and installing replacement or additional bins.
• Countryside verge litter pick programme continuing (Spring 2023) 
• Graffiti removal.
• Ongoing cemetery operations, digging and carrying out interments, installing headstone foundations, benches etc
• Winter cyclical works ending; pruning of shrub beds and tree works. Winter gritting.
• Checking and clearance of culverts
• Play Park inspection
• Education and Leisure Trust pitch maintenance, athletic and football initial lining for schools.
• School shrub bed reduction
• Replacement of damaged bins.
• Responding to Customer Service Requests and complaints.
• Removal of dead animals and excess waste at recycling centres.
• Seasonal recruitment for Care of Gardens service.

Streetscene Technical Support

• Seeking of quotes in relation to the upgrading of the canal towpath, Kirkintilloch via Scotland Excel framework.
• Etive Park Play upgrade contract awarded.
• Planting of standard trees in Milngavie, Lenzie and Bearsden.
• Works completed for the current financial year in relation to the Scottish Government’s Nature Restoration Programme.
• Seed delivered and grant claimed, paid from funds awarded from the Scottish Government’s Nature Restoration Grant to purchase wildflower seed for the Climate Ready Project at Etive and Woodhill Parks, administered by NatureScot.
• Lenzie Moss Path upgrade nearing completion. 
• Open Space audit work for input into the Grounds Maintenance System ongoing for Milngavie & Bearsden.
• Luggie Park pathwork completed.
• Play Park Accessibility Work Study ongoing.
• Scanning of cemetery ledgers, to import into the Council’s Epilogue Cemetery Management System, work ongoing.
• Cairnhill Woods pathwork programme of planting completed.
• Mains Park and Bishopbriggs Park path upgrades out to tender, awaiting tender returns.
• KLR and BRR works ongoing; monthly litter picks ongoing during the winter period.
• Responding to a number of planning applications
• Play park defect repair work ongoing.
• Project management of artificial pitches continuing.  Final draft of grass and pitch contract nearing completion.
• Mosshead Play Park upgrade completed.
• Team working with City Deal Team and consultants in relation to masterplan of Bishopbriggs Public Park.
• Renovation works required along boundary wall at New Kilpatrick Churchyard and wall at the Tower Bell to be progressed, Old Aisle; team organised initial survey from Roads.
• CCTV survey and cleaning of drainage system completed. Preparations ongoing for capital works required.
• Relaying of setts and paving at Milton of Campsie Cross completed.
• 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.
• Partnership working with Trees for Cities at Meadowburn Park in progress
• Staff recruitment completed; ongoing recruitment of Allotment & Food Growing Officer
• Community Group support ongoing
• Planning application responses and support to Planning Team ongoing
• Remedial tree works recommended within Woodhead Park and Whitegates, Kirkintilloch

Mugdock Country Park

• March events at the Park included:
  
  • Stargazing at Mugdock
  • Guided Walk – The Canal & Cadder, Bishopbriggs
  • Forest School – A Log of Fun
  • Guided Walk – Dougalston Estate, Milngavie
  • Sensory Sunday – Forest School for wee folk
• Funding offer accepted for tree planting within Mugdock Park – 5,000 trees, shrubs and hedges
• Heritage fruit trees have been planted within the orchard and thorny hedging continue to be planted along the fence line at Craigend Quarry
• Quarry fencing installed with completion work still ongoing including additional security at gate and earth built up around base of fence
• Work ongoing at Courtyard with drainage work and replacement gravel at the front of the building
• Progress on replacement BBQ shelters for the Pond and Gallowhill sites.  The Pond site is almost completed
• Walled Garden design completed with focus on making an event space to increase income opportunities
• Scottish Water Rangers have been patrolling the Milngavie Reservoir site although they are based at the Park with a partnership agreement in place
• Pathwork improvements have been carried out by conservation volunteers and Park Rangers
• Continuation of tree management arising from a tree hazard report commissioned in 2022.