How Good is Our Service - September 2022

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 increased in September to 95.5% from 94% in August exceeding our overall target of 85%. We have consistently exceeded our target this year and we continue to look at ways of maintaining and enhancing performance going forward

Property Maintenance have achieved our target of 100% for Gas Servicing in September with 378 properties serviced in the month. We continue to achieve our target each month and we are confident this will continue throughout 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 be well received 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 95% of properties are now fitted with Smoke & Heat alarms. The remaining properties have been no access 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 in the school estate.

Facilities Management

The rollout of the new FM structure continues with significant progression and employee displaced meetings are ongoing.  Recruitment of all vacant positions commenced in July and is on-going, however there has been reduced interest in various positions. Recruitment open days are planned for October and work is underway to organise sessions in various premises throughout EDC.  It is anticipated this will generate further interest in vacant positions and promote opportunities within FM.

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

New regulations on Single-Use Plastics came into force on 1st June. The service has sourced alternative products to meet the new legislative requirements.

Covid continues to impact on the uptake of school meals, income levels, resources and product availability. A return to the full lunch menu offering was implemented in August at the start of the new term and it is anticipated this will further improve the uptake of school meals.

The uptake of free school meals has improved over previous months, however this remains lower than pre-pandemic levels. 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 we continue to work with suppliers to source alternative food products, ensuring the menu complies with the revised regulations and meets all nutritional standards.

The service continues to work with the Soil Association to meet the criteria to achieve their Food for Life Bronze Award, which involves delivering nutritional school meals, meeting set percentages in respect of locally sourced produce and preparing meals fresh rather than by other means.

Estates

There are 73 Operational Assets which require an annual Gas Safety Check. For the month of September, 7 properties required an annual Gas Safety Check. The assets 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. 

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, with three vacant properties let to local companies during the month of August.  Discussions are ongoing with colleagues in the HSCP/NHS to support a need for premises to deliver services from in Milngavie. At present the non-operational estate is over 94% occupied. Offers received at the closing date for the lease of the new Kirkintilloch Community Sports Complex are currently being reviewed. Officers are also working with the Antermony Development Trust to conclude the formal Community Asset Transfer of Antermony Loch in early course.

Officers continue to progress the current active 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.  Missives are now concluded for the sale of Kelvinbank Resource Centre in early 2023. Land at Campsie Road, Kirkintilloch has been sold in addition to the retail Unit at 2/4 Mauchline Court, Kirkintilloch.

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 is progressing well and remains due for completion in early June 2023.

Completion of Phase 1 of the new Allander Leisure Centre has been slightly delayed, with handover of the new facility now expected in January 2023. The new ASN school in Kirkintilloch remains on schedule to complete in mid-2023. The presence of a non-charted utility cable has delayed completion of the Kirkintilloch Community Sports Complex to December 2022. New affordable housing projects at the Loaning, Lenzie and Kerr St, Kirkintilloch continue to progress well. 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 number of improvement projects continue across the school estate which have improved condition and suitability of our asset base. The construction of new all-weather pitches have commenced at both Killermont PS and Holy Family PS. The conclusion of the contract to refurbish Brookwood Villa is expected to conclude shortly.

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 are now underway and revised development proposals for each site will be progressed in early course.  

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 95.5% 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 over October (1 property) and November (1 property) with contractors.
• Continued progress in the delivery of capital works in the Council’s existing Affordable Housing estate, including kitchen/bathroom replacement.
• Finalise contractual agreements for the refurbishment of Brookwood Villa.
• 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 & Business Support Services

Revenues and Benefits

• The team issued and dealt with the queries on over 2900 Council Tax bills, 1400 reminders, 150 summary warrants and 2100 Benefits notifications. Over 230 Non Domestic Rates bills were also issued.
• The team dealt with 2700 telephone enquiries in August
• Continue to administer the revised Self Isolation Support Grant applications and payments.

Shared Services

• 135 concessionary seats on school buses awarded to pupils in September, where capacity allowed, and all parents were notified of the outcome by the Transport Team.
• 27 interim funding clients re-assessed by the Residential Team and invoices issued where appropriate.
• 30 direct payment audits finalised (23 standard and 7 final) for clients receiving Self Directed Support from EDC. 

ICT Services

• Work to have the Marina CCTV cameras connected back to the Emergency Response Centre in Broomhill has now been completed. A new fibre link has been established between these 2 sites and CCTV feeds are now being received at the ERC.
• The project to upgrade the public and guest wifi firewalls has now been completed providing the latest security protections for both public and guest wifi in the Community Hubs and Council offices.

East Dunbartonshire Leisure and Culture Trust

Leisure Centres

Total centre usage continued on a positive trend. Period 6 performance improved compared to Period 5 with a 10.5% increase in footfall as we left the summer period behind.

Period 6

Dryside: 41,298

Wetside: 30,255

Libraries

For period 6, there were 26,861 visits in person and digital usage was 50,981. This represents 110% of the overall target for the period.  Visits in person continue to increase and have achieved 92% of target for the period.  Digital usage continues to be consistently above target.

Period 6

Target: 70,621

Actual: 77,842

Detail

                        Actual              Target              Actual as % of target 

Physical          26,861             29,078             92%                                                    

Digital              50,981             41,543             123%              

Total                77,842             70,621             110% of target

Museums

For period 6, there were 1,523 visits in person and digital usage was 2,225. This represents 79% of target for the period. Visits in person at the Auld Kirk museum increased 56% from P5 but visits to The Lillie Art Galley fell by 28%. Digital usage was up by 16% compared to P5 but achieved 76% of target for the period.

Period 6

Target: 4,732

Actual: 3,748

Detail

                        Actual              Target              Actual as % of target

Physical          1,523               1,829               83%

Digital              2,225               2,903               77%

 

Total                3,748               4,732               79% of target

Sports Development

Sports Development members continued to increase in period 6 with the total number of members attending our weekly term time programmes across all sports reaching 2,482. 

Key Achievements / Areas of Focus

Sports Development

Football Development hosted the first joint Football Forum with clubs attending from both East and West Dunbartonshire at Kilmardinny House. The forum was well received with a presentation from Milngavie FC and clubs from both areas mixing in group discussions enabling those attending to meet people from other areas and build relationships.

Filling classes continues to be a key priority with 144 new members joining the Sports Development programmes since last period.

Cultural Services

• The Summer Reading Challenge concluded with participation at pre-COVID levels. Digital advice sessions have expanded to be weekly at the four larger libraries. Audiobook walks have started with funding through EDVA. A reminiscence project for people managing Alzheimer’s Dementia has started at Bearsden Library.

Education

School Planning and Improvement Team

• The School Planning and Improvement Team played a key role in quality assuring Achievement of Curriculum for Excellence (ACEL) datasets across all schools in P1, P4, P7 and S3. This ensured that information submitted to the Scottish Government was valid and reliable.
• In addition, the team worked closely with the Quality Assurance Manager – Quality Assurance, to gather and analyse previous ACEL data from 2020/21, for the purpose of setting stretch aims in the Scottish Attainment Challenge. This work focused on data analysis across the Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation (SIMD), with a particular focus on Quintiles 1 and 5 to articulate the poverty-related attainment gap.
• Work continued with Major Asset design teams to progress projects in Bearsden, Milngavie, Balmuildy and Westerton Primary Schools and Lenzie Academy.
• Consultation to name the new ASN School took place during September. Due to the margin between 1st and 2nd choice not being more than 10%, this was then re-consulted on and should be completed by early October. The new name will be announced in early October, following a report to the Education Committee.

Early Years and Supporting Families

• The Early Years and Out of School Care consultation closed on 7th September. The consultation webpage received 805 views during the consultation period and 651 survey responses were received in total. The results are being analysed and will be reported through the Council’s Education Committee.
• On 27th September Early Years Education hosted an online leadership conference, inviting leaders from local authority and funded provider centres to participate. Input was provided by early years professionals, authors, education consultants and experts in early learning. Their highly informative presentations on the 1140 hour journey, Froebelian principles, learning through nature and managing change, prompted engaging discussion amongst the 70 plus leaders in attendance. When evaluating the conference - 1 star not worthwhile, 5 stars very worthwhile - the overall rating was 4.5. All reported that the conference met the aims and most agreed that they would share the content with their staff. The event was described by some as inspiring, motivating and made them think about their own practice.
• Two sessions on effective child observations were provided for early years practitioners, in partnership with North Lanarkshire Council and delivered by Education Scotland. This training supports understanding of, and methods for, observation and explores how to record and make informed judgements on progress. Of those who attended, almost all were able to join both sessions on offer; most said that they learned about different types of observation methods; and that the training was well presented.
• Continued review of staffing models and structures within Early Years Centres has taken place in order to create opportunities to support flexible working requests. An additional 18 Early Years Workers and 11 Support Workers have been appointed.
• A total of 39 families are currently being supported through 1 to 1 intervention, with 11 new requests for assistance received in September.
• 7 parents completed the Fear-Less Triple P group intervention to support with managing anxiety and stress. There was 100% attendance over the 6 week programme with excellent feedback from parents, highly recommending the course and indicating that participation is supporting parents to have greater understanding of anxiety and the impact this can have on families.
• 16 Family Champions successfully completed level 3 Triple P training, an early intervention programme, to support parents with every day parenting concerns, such as bedtime challenges, toilet training and behaviour.
• The Little Explorers Nurture Day (LEND) was offered in Auchinairn Community Education Centre and Hillhead Community Education Centre. During September, parents attended Bookbug sessions, sport classes, baby massage and parenting workshops and had access to the food bank. These sessions provide parents/carers with access to a number of free services in order to support their families.

Primary, Secondary and ASN Schools

• By September 2022, two Literacy Champion meetings had taken place, one for Primary and one for Early Years. Feedback so far has been very positive with all Literacy Champions who completed the evaluation indicating that they felt the aims of the course had been met and next steps agreed.
• Read Write Counts packs from the Scottish Book Trust have been delivered to all primary schools for primary 2 and primary 3 pupils. These will be distributed during the upcoming Scottish Book Week.
• All project bids Confucius Hubs have been received, with the submission date for the Operational Plans for this session being October 2022. Both hubs will submit project bids to the value of £6400.
• Assessment and Moderation: Quality Improvement Officers continue to support schools and engage with the West Partnership to support assessment and moderation processes within our Early Years Centres and Primary Schools. Assessment sessions and moderation sessions have been offered to all Early Years Centres in November 2022, with early indications showing a high uptake for these sessions. Through their School Improvement Plans, two schools have been identified to participate in moderation sessions delivered through the West Partnership on the October in-service day.
• Quality Assurance and Moderation Support Officers (QAMSO): 12 members of staff from 9 schools attended the first training session in September 2022 with Education Scotland on the QAMSO programme.
• Almost all Probationers are making satisfactory progress towards meeting the General Teaching Council for Scotland Professional Standards for Full Registration. A few probationers have been identified as requiring a higher level of support.
• Almost all probationers have participated in six Professional Learning Sessions delivered by Central Team and teaching staff.
• Almost all schools across the Primary and Secondary sector are supporting students through teaching placements.
• Teaching staff across the ASN, Early Years, Primary and Secondary sectors have been nominated to participate in Education Scotland’s Expressive Arts Network.
• The new platform for the Scottish National Standardised Assessments continues to be developed at National Level before being launched to all schools.
• The Promise Education Implementation Group held the first of four meetings scheduled for this session, focusing on The Good Childhood priority. All group members are evaluating their own sector against the main Promise Plan's calls to action, directly linked to the education briefing paper. Action plans are under development and will be fed directly into the main Promise Steering Group.
• Child Poverty: In line with The Period Products (Free Provision) (Scotland) Act 2021 coming into force in August 2022, a period poverty consultation took place across our schools early in September. The consultation was designed to gather the views of young people and their families as to what period products people want, where they want to access them and how they would like to access them. There were 442 responses to this consultation.
• The Additional Support Needs and Children’s Services team consulted with all schools and published a collated commentary of cost of the school day surveys. This includes examples of actions to remove/reduce the cost of the school day; what schools are doing to challenge the stigma of poverty; how schools are supporting families to access financial benefits and entitlements; and community support. The Quality Improvement Officer from the ASN and Children’s Services team is supporting schools to participate in Challenge Poverty Week 2022, with a focus on highlighting the reality of poverty and challenge stereotypes; exemplifying solutions to poverty; and increasing public support for action to solve poverty.
• Child Protection Training for school staff – all education establishments attended an update on child protection in September and evaluations were of a high quality in terms of meeting both the aims of the session and facilitating the communication of future development needs.
• The first in-person meetings of all EDC Pupil Forum members have taken place this month with almost all schools represented, focusing on the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC).  These sessions provided the opportunity to hear about the work of forum members at school level and also to finalise the draft terms of reference developed in consultation with the young people. A schedule of meetings has been agreed for the session and a platform set up to support the co-construction of agendas for future meetings.
• The Empowered Group is planning for the upcoming United Nation’s 16 Days of Action against Gender Based Violence campaign in November 2022, looking at ways of raising awareness of this initiative within our local communities.
• Staff are working with Talking Mats Trainers to further develop effective communication and improve outcomes for learners.
• The ASN Leadership Forum was held at Kirkintilloch High School with a focus on Recovery. The event was well attended with colleagues from education, health and social work present. Topics covered included School Counselling provision, Nurture Approaches in schools, Attendance, Refugees and Poverty.
• The Senior Phase Vocational Programme is up and running, with nearly 200 young people engaging in our College Partnership Programme.
• Our schools continued to celebrate pupil attainment and achievements both within in school and the wider community during secondary prize giving events.
• Insight was released for all secondary schools in Scotland.  Insight is the online tool for secondary schools and local authorities. It is aligned with Curriculum for Excellence. It is used to help secondary schools and local authorities identify areas of success and where improvements can be made for pupils in the senior phase (S4 - S6).  A future report will be shared with the Education Committee and work will continue to align Primary and Secondary tracking tools and information systems.

Skills for Life, Learning and Work Update

• As part of the No One Left Behind improving employability approach, 12 long term unemployed residents started 6 month temporary job opportunities (paid at Living wage levels) across the areas of Support for Learning, Social Care and Early Years. All trainees will receive accredited training relevant to their job and employability support to help secure sustained employment. All trainees also received in-work better off calculations and support to ensure they were not worse off. One of the trainees in Early Years has already been successful in securing a full time job in Early Years.

Finance & Audit

Health and Social Care Partnership

Overview of Progress

The HSCP and its staff continue to work through the constraints of the pandemic 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:

• Welcomed a Dutch Health and Social Care delegation as part of a fact finding trip on how residents are supported locally to remain active, independent and engaged.
• Participation in and promotion of:
  - Blood Cancer awareness month
  - Foetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder awareness month
  - Suicide prevention
  - Anticipatory Care Planning
  - Power of Attorney Day
  - Falls awareness week
  - Fitness Day – the effect physical activity can have on your mental health
  - Income maximisation service in light of cost of living crisis
  - Homecare Day
  - World Pharmacy Day

Areas of Focus:

Children and Criminal Justice Services:

• There has been an increase in the number of Looked After and Accommodated placements across East Dunbartonshire throughout 2021-22. Work is ongoing to redress the balance of care by reviewing out of authority placements and continuing the Foster Carer recruitment campaign.
• Delivery of year 2 of House Project which will improve outcomes for young Care Leavers.
• Implement the Children’s Services Plan which covers areas such as Community Mental Health and Wellbeing, Keeping Children Safe, Corporate Parenting and Healthy Lifestyles.
• Implement The Promise with a focus on Family Group Decision Making.
• Implementation of the Children and Young People’s Mental Health and Wellbeing Framework.
• Refresh EDC child protection procedures to reflect the new national child protection guidance.
• Address the unpaid work services backlog to ensure those sentenced are able to complete their hours and are not breaching any order.

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.
• Work continues to analyse and manage care home admission pressures, taking into account the potential consequences, both personal and organisational, for decision-making, with the aim to optimise the service model in relation to quality and efficiency. Although there has been a downturn in the numbers seeking a Care Home placement, the complexity of those being managed in the community continues to rise.
• Continuing to provide multi-disciplinary intensive oversight, support and assurance for all care homes and other registered care providers in the area.
• Continue to pursue achievement of compliance with target timescales for adult protection cases.
• Taking forward the Allander Leisure and Day Care Centre - to be augmented by informal community based support network and the development of community led partnerships to facility the growth of employability and third and voluntary sector supports.
• Conduct a 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. 
• Refresh the HSCP Carers Strategy.
• Review of commissioned Mental Health and Alcohol and Drugs services.

Housing

Overview of Progress

As at 30th September 2022, the Housing Service:

• Has 58 members of staff:
  
  • Estates - 7         
  • Strategy - 19 (4 vacancies and 1 maternity leave)
  • Rents - 12 (2 vacancies)
  • Homelessness - 15 (1 vacancy and 1 maternity leave)
  • Management - 5         
• Actively manages 3757 social rented homes, broken down into 3704 mainstream accommodation and 53 homeless temporary accommodation. 
• Maintains a housing list of 3275 households, made up of existing tenants, homeless applicants and waiting list applicants.
• Manages 84 lead tenancies which are rented from either private landlords or Housing Associations, to assist with accommodating homeless households on a temporary basis.
• 27 properties have been let:
  
  • 9 New Builds (Rose Dene Drive, Bearsden)
  • 15 mainstream (13 general needs, 2 sheltered)
  • 1 buy back (Bought from the open market)
  • 2 HRH-HRA (temporary accommodation converted back to permanent)
• The 27 lets were to the following queues:
  
  • 5 transfers
  • 10 waiting list
  • 12 homeless

Key achievements/Areas of focus

Strategy, Systems and Performance

Key Achievements

• Solution Design document for the Allocations module of the new Integrated Housing Management System (IHMS) has now been signed off.
• Advertised to cover the roles of Concierge and Systems Officers.
• Performance Monitoring Officers are in the process of developing a tenant’s database to allow for a more streamlined communication process between the Housing Department and tenants.
• Draft Local Housing Strategy approved at Council Committee and the consultation process will run until the end of October. Please provide your feedback.
• Liaising with Tenant Participation Team to review and produce the new Tenant Participation Strategy.
• Working on the Digital Telecare Project Board to ensure the successful transition of analogue telecare to digital telecare throughout the sheltered complexes.
• Approval granted to increase the Concierge team – posts advertised.

Areas of focus

• IHMS progression (3 year project).
• Local Housing Strategy 2023-2028 consultation.
• Performance Monitoring.

Housing Operations – Estates

Key Achievements

• 9 new Anti-social cases received and 9 open Anti-social cases were resolved.
• 9 nominations to Registered Social Landlords for consideration for allocation of their stock.
• Monthly Housing Liaison meeting attended to discuss cases with social work, antisocial team and Police Scotland.
• Housing Staff attended Anti-Social Training ran by Scotland’s Housing Network.
• An internal Anti-Social Audit commenced and will last for 25 working days.
• Void rent loss has decreased since August, joint working with the void team continues.

Areas of focus

• Improve void re-let times through joint working with void team.
• Percentage of tenancy sustainment dropped from 83% in August to 76% in September - this was due to 1 household moving back with parents to receive support, 1 household abandoning the property and 1 household returning keys to Council Hub with no information given and unable to retrieve.
• Percentage of tenancies refused has increased from 32% in August to 33% in September – this is due to the allocation of a number of less popular properties.

Housing Operations – Rents and Tenant Participation

Key Achievements

• 13 tenants assisted and successfully awarded payment from Hardship Fund towards rent payments totalling £8,858.64.
• Team continue to provide significant time/resources along with support to the change team and NEC with the development of the IHMS.
• Tenant Participation Strategy Development – priorities have now been identified and work on pulling the new draft strategy is in progress.
• Housing Officers have now resumed house visits in relation to rent arrears and to provide advice and assistance in an attempt to maximise rental income and reduce rent arrears. 

Areas of focus

• Active Tenant Rent Arrears are £1,509,937.56 which is an increase on August’s figure (£1,349,949.01).
• Former Tenant Arrears are £725,678.55 which is an increase from August’s figure (£715,363.52).
• Team continues to work on active Tenant rent arrears and former rent arrears to bring this figure down.
• New temporary Scottish Government legislation being introduced in early October 2022, Cost of Living (Tenant Protection) (Scotland) Bill 2022, will introduce a moratorium on evictions. Housing Services are currently reviewing this legislation along with colleagues at Legal Services and how this will impact our Rent Arrears procedures and Court actions.

Homelessness and Prevention

Key Achievements:

• There were 41 homelessness applications taken. 
• 36 appointments where basic advice was given to prevent homelessness.
• 100% decisions made within 28 days.
• 0 placements in unsuitable accommodation.
• 0 breeches of unsuitable accommodation order.
• 0 applicants waiting more than 3 years for offer of settled accommodation. 
• 25 calls to homelessness out of hours service.
• Rent Deposit Guarantee/Private Sector Scheme:
  • 3 referrals.
  • 1 housed.

• Landlord Registration:
  • 30 new applications.
  • 70 renewals.
  • 32 updates.
• Project 101:
  • Number of new referrals – 6 young people.
  • Weekly cooking sessions – 4 young persons per week.
• 3 tenants assisted and successfully awarded payment from Temp Accommodation Hardship Fund totalling £15,608.

Land Planning and Development

Overview of Progress

Land Planning & Development have progressed a number of significant work streams during September 2022 in line with the Business Improvement Plan commitments. 

Land Planning Policy

• Work towards the production of a draft Circular Economy Strategy for East Dunbartonshire is ongoing. Actions and objectives have been refined in collaboration with internal services and key external partners. A Members briefing will be held ahead of its submission to PNCA Committee.
• Council approved the adoption of Local Development Plan 2 on 22 September 2022 and subsequently officers have submitted the Notice of Intention to Adopt, the Proposed Plan as Modified and all other relevant documentation to Scottish Ministers as required by the Town and Country Planning (Scotland) Act 1997 as amended by the Planning etc. (Scotland) Act 2006.
• Following August 2022 PNCA Committee approval of two pieces of planning guidance, consultation is now being undertaken.  
• Following June 2022 PNCA Committee approval of the Council’s Parking Management Plan, the plan can now be quoted in correspondence.  
• The SPT Draft Regional Transport Strategy has been published and September 2022 PNCA committee approved the response to this consultation. Going forward local policy will be aligned to the Final Regional Transport Strategy.
• 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.

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. As agreed by Council in March, progress is also being made in the delivery of 37 early actions to address climate change which will be carried out alongside the development of the Climate Action Plan. 
• Elected member training was delivered during September on Climate Change Adaptation, in partnership with Climate Ready Clyde.  A Carbon Literacy Training Course has also been developed and was delivered to SMT in late September/early October. Elected members have been invited to participate in the course in November.
• The Council launched the Re-Heat Project in partnership with Scottish Power Energy Networks and E.On in August. The Project will provide an opportunity for low-carbon electrified heat and smart control to be introduced to 50 homes in East Dunbartonshire. Information was provided in a recent Technical Note and is available on the Re-heat page.
• 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 will commence shortly and surveyors will be out and about across East Dunbartonshire assessing play areas and facilities during the autumn. 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 recently seen new staff filling vacancies and as such a period of transition and improvements.
• The team has carried out GIS analysis for the Education Service. This has included a variety of routing work, calculating distances to determine pupils entitled to transport, upgrading and improving the catchment checker tool and creating a number of maps to provide Education a basis for determining transport pick up locations for new schools in East Dunbartonshire. Current GIS workflows also include analysis of travel connectivity to inform the evidence base for the next Active Travel Strategy and consultation materials for the forthcoming draft Circular Economy Strategy.
• Street naming and numbering is underway for the Barratt homes development at Bishopbriggs Town Centre. The address change for Waterside residents is currently with Royal Mail.

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.
• Working on the development of new business support products designed to help businesses having difficulties in recovery, sustainability or diversification. Preparing to provide funding to businesses previously in receipt of the previous (2021) Discretionary Fund Covid grant using the Local Authority Covid Recovery funding.

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.
• Expert technical services have been procured to support transport modelling, and work to procure relevant expertise to design the Westerhill Development Road (formerly BRR5) and undertake the Westerhill Masterplan has been well progressed in this period. Most recently, design consultants have been appointed to progress feasibility stage for the A803 Sustainable Travel Corridor.
• Design consultants are now being procured for the next stages of the design process for Bishopbriggs Town Centre.
• Work is on progress to prepare for consultation on the A803 later in the year.

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 - Work continues with the Trust for the hall to develop proposals to improve the hall and examine external funding opportunities.
• The Kirkintilloch Business Gateway Masterplan has now been approved at the PNCA Committee. The team in partnership with colleagues across the Council and landowners will now look to progress the actions set out in the delivery plan with the aim of encouraging new development proposals to come forward for the site.
• UK Levelling Up Fund bid was submitted to support regeneration activity in Lennoxtown, and a decision is expected by UK Government over the autumn. 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 has recommenced having been paused in 2019 with designs being completed and shared with the public. The project is resuming where those who live, work and visit Lennoxtown will be invited to share their fresh views of the project area today and 2019 designs via an online survey, which will be available from 3-31 October 2022.

Traffic & Transport Team

• Work has concluded on design work for the Canniesburn Toll Improvement Project. Work will soon commence on procuring contractors for the construction period.
• Construction work is complete on the upgrade of the Strathkelvin Railway Path between Kirkintilloch and Lennoxtown. The project has been funded through SPT and the Council’s Cycling Walking Safer Routes allocation from Transport Scotland.
• Feasibility and design works are progressing on a range of active travel infrastructure projects included in the Local Transport and Active Travel Strategies.
• The team has successfully attracted external funding to help deliver a number of projects over 2022/23. Work is ongoing to recruit additional staff to support project delivery.
• 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 53 applications and validated 66 applications. The Building Standards team have received 106  building warrants and approved 79 applications. The Enforcement Team opened 8 new cases and closed 5. 
• The Building Standards team have had to manage a high workload whilst carrying 3 vacancies over this reporting period.  In addition the Validation Team have 1 vacancy and the Planning Team have a half vacancy. Managing customer expectations has been critical, as unfortunately the team have not been able to respond as quickly as we normally strive to do. 
• In recent weeks there has been significant results from our recruitment campaign in that we should have all of our vacancies filled by the end of next month/ early November. This will allow the service to wind down the use of agency staff. The use of agency staff ensured continuity of service for our customers.
•  The Development Application team have no business for the meeting of Planning Board in November but will be preparing reports for the meeting in December. The Development Applications team provided a Planning Advisor for the September meeting of the Local Review Body which heard two cases,  with a third adjourned for a site visit..

Key Achievements / Areas of Focus

• On boarding of new starts including a Modern Apprentice within the Building Standards team.
• Implementation and roll out of new business support products designed to help businesses having difficulties in recovery, sustainability or diversification. 
• The Building Standards team have received positive scoring from Scottish Government Building Standards Division and provided recognition of the work involved in delivering this service particularly during the pandemic.

Legal and Democratic Services

Overview of Progress

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

Performance against all indicators for September is 100%.

September saw the completion of the first cycle of the approved Council & Committees. Democratic Services managed the implementation of the Council’s new Hybrid meeting system against a challenging and busy cycle of meetings. YouTube viewing figures remain steadily above the numbers who previously attended the Council Chambers in person. The Team continues to manage and represent the Council at various Civil Contingency and resilience meetings and progress work in relation to the Council’s PREVENT obligations. 

The Information Management Team continues to support major project work e.g. the implementation of MS365 and commenced a review of a number of policies and procedures which will support elements of the organisation and workforce of the future. The SMT Support Team continues to support both CMT and SMT in all aspects of work and are a key part of the administration behind the production of reports for committees and other decision making bodies. The Members Support Team continue to work with and support Members in their role.

Key Achievements / Areas of Focus

• During August, the Team processed 4 contract form reviews, 5 Contract award letters, 35 taxi licences, and 12 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.
• Support was provided to City Deal for the ongoing contract management and variations to the A803 design contract scope and programme.
• Providing legal advice on WDR Contract 2 procurement options.
• Completion of conveyancing transactions including 2 open market purchases, 3 shared equity sales and 1 shared equity buy back.
• Carrying out a consultation on proposals to increase taxi fares, with the outcome reported to P&R in October.
• Substantially agreeing the contracts for the refurbishment of Brookwood Villa subject to the contractors providing a performance bond which was provided in October.
• Increased SMT & Members Support in September particularly following the death of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. Support was also extended to assist the Lord Lieutenant’s Office, which is now clerked by the Chief Executive.
• Training of Customer Services Agents was provided by the Council’s Registrar / Technical Advisor in September 2022  - Total - Births 92/Deaths-162/Marriages-32.

Neighbourhood Services

Overview of Progress

The Waste Team has continued the front line service operations for the collection of over 400,000 assorted household bins over the month of September, 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.

Waste Services have managed the disposal and processing of over 3100 tonnes of recycling and general waste materials through our Household Waste Recycling Centre at the Mavis Valley over the last quarter (July-Sept).   

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 1867 tonnes of waste through this contract in September, 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 Roads and Environment services.

The new fleet of Property Maintenance and Greenspace & Streetscene vehicles, delayed as a consequence on ongoing supply chain issues, is now starting to arrive and enter service. The team at Fleet Management are now 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

• The Waste service achieved a 99% performance figure for Special Collections in September. The average collection time was noted at 3.91 days, significantly ahead of the 10 day period and 90% target. 
• The Mavis Valley Recycling Centre booking system reported 9796 residents booked to visit the facility during the month of September.
• The service have been working closely with the Business Change team to create a business case looking at the benefits of digitally modernising the waste collection routes.
• Following funding approval for the Waste Compositional Analysis, the service have appointed Alfred Knight as the contractor to commence the work on Monday 31st October.
• We are now moving towards the end of the green waste season, in September we collected and composted 965 tonnes of garden waste from our residents.
• During the month of September our food waste teams collected 228 tonnes of food from the kerbside for ongoing processing.  We continue to drive this service through local campaigns and joint working with our contractor Scottish Water Horizons.
• Successful ongoing delivery of the Clyde Valley Residual Waste contract, diverting 1867 tonnes of general waste for ongoing treatment within the month.
• Ongoing attendance at meetings in support of other Council services and partners to identify options for Carbon reduction and the Circular Economy Agenda as part of the wider Climate Action Plan.
• 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 horticultural and construction plant repairs.
• 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.
• Continue work for the review and creation of a new Fleet Asset Management plan to incorporate Zero emission and alternative fuelled vehicle and plant fleet, in the lead up to legislative deadlines and targets.
• Undertake a Fleet information update and provide a return to Transport Scotland for analysis and revision of the Councils 2019/20 Fleet Decarbonisation report.

Organisational Transformation

Overview of Progress

Procurement

During September, the Service continued to support services across the Council in delivery or various projects and in support of the necessary day to day business which enables the Council to operate successfully.  In addition, OT services were involved in ongoing support to a number of strategic procurements/projects, particularly in relation to City Deal, ICT and various Capital projects. The Strategic Commissioning Team continued to provide enhanced monitoring and oversight of the commissioned market due mainly to the increased fragility of the commissioned market caused by on-going recruitment and retention issues – exacerbated by a recent rise in covid cases and the cost of living crisis. On-going support to the HSCP to progress key strategic agenda’s and underpinning financial frameworks remain a key priority for the team. 

Business & Digital Change

The IHMS team continues to work closely with the Housing service to design and build the new Integrated Housing Management System (IHMS). The solution design for the core Estates module was completed this month and system build and testing is ongoing. Progress has also been made in development of financial interfaces and preparation for data migration to the new NEC Housing system. 

Work continues on the analogue to digital transition for the Alarm Receiving Centre. Working together with the Digital Office and Scotland Excel, the time-frame for procurement has been finalised as the 28th October with a closure date of the 2nd December. Work also continues on identifying requirements for our Sheltered Housing complexes, a meeting with Procurement is scheduled to draft a specification document and agree the route to market for updating the alarms in place ahead of the digital transition. 

Preparatory work to begin our Oracle Fusion ERP Programme has now commenced. The Programme Team and key stakeholders are being mobilised and an initial stakeholder identification workshop will be scheduled for early November. This programme of work will migrate our current financial and procurement systems to a new cloud based system hosted by Oracle.

Our M365 project is progressing well, we have recently awarded a contract to a Microsoft Gold Partner to support the migration of the Councils Lotus Notes e-mail to the M365 Outlook/Exchange platform by April 23.  

Tender evaluations are underway for our new Council website (CMS) and Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system and work continues to explore the implementation options for our new Employee Intranet, which will be developed on the Microsoft SharePoint platform.   

Work has commenced on the next stage of the Roads Maintenance Management System project and the specification document has been completed and has been passed to procurement for review. 

The route to market for several projects is underway; these include; a new managed stores contract, CCTV, FOI database and Route Optimisation (In Cab Technology). 

The Business Systems Team continue to resolve incidents and requests logged via the service desk ensuring continued systems availability and performance.

Health and Safety

The Health and Safety team carries out its advisory role assisting services across the council with the new EDC Safer Workplaces guidance, providing routine measures to be applied across services. Moreover, it carries out its compliance role in the planning and completion of safe works and training, its supervisory role while works are being undertaken, leads on incident investigation and recording and manages on site attendance and health and safety operations at Broomhill depot.

Key Achievements / Areas of Focus

Procurement

• Providing ongoing support to the City Deal team in relation to Contract requirements and alternative procurement route options.
• Supported key Business & Digital Change projects such as Oracle Fusion upgrade, M365, CRM & CMS, supporting workforce of the future planning.
• Completed renewals for support and maintenance of business critical systems to facilitate current remote working.
• Progressed market analysis across Care at Home services  – outcome will help to inform strategic decision making and future commissioning priorities.
• Supported and led the transfer of a care at home service following a providers decision to sell local business.
• Drafted Commissioning Governance Framework to support and clarify commissioning pathways and governance arrangements.

Business & Digital Change

• Formal kick off of Oracle Fusion ERP Programme.
• Launch of tender - analogue to digital transition for the Alarm Receiving Centre. 
• Detailed planning phase for migration of the Council's e-mail system to M365 Outlook & Exchange services.
• Solution design, build, testing, and data migration preparation for the Integrated Housing Management System (IHMS).   

Health and Safety

Supporting Services

• Creation of EDC Safer Workplaces guidance to support routine measures allowing service recovery to full operations
• The SMART working for the future – local arrangements and H&S set-up.
• Employee Zone update and review for Display Screen Equipment compliance and Health and Safety forms
• Incident reporting training for Early Years Heads of Centres.
• New Boclair Academy and Allander health and safety and fire safety operational requirements, CDM Client visits.
• Review of Contractors RAMS, Construction Phase Plans, Pre Construction information for works in schools, commissioned by Assets, Estates, Property Maintenance and subsequent site inspections.

Fire, Health and Safety and Occupational Health services

• Finalising Health and Safety policy review and sub policies for H&S Management System.
• Health Surveillance Year 2 assessments and review.
• CO2 Scottish Government report returns.
• Reactec HAVS tag and Operator card programming for Roads.
• Respiratory Face Fit Testing.
• Fire risk assessments across all educational establishments and a number of corporate building.
• Education policies and procedures benchmarking - Jewellery wearing during Physical Education.

Risk Assessments and Training

• Induction training for new operatives – Property Maintenance
• Duty Holder, Risk Assessment and Incident reporting, Building Manager, Manual Handling, Safe use of ladders, fire extinguisher training.
• Waste service risk assessment review
• Workplace assessments across services supporting SMART working.
• Supporting HR with Covid-19 case reporting, individual risk assessment reviews

Areas Requiring Improvement

Need to recruit appropriately qualified resources to the team.

Human Resources & Organisational Development

• Continued support for employees and managers on HR policy based and guidance noted, with support in attendance on ER case work,
• Promotion of Septembers Health Working Lives campaigns,
• Implemented a Career Development graduate accountant post within Finance - this is a school leaver who will attend university while working for us to gain their accountancy qualification. The aim of this is to support succession planning and development within the service.
• Work commenced on developing the ill-health retirement guidance,
• People Development delivered 24 sessions, across 14 topics, to include SMART Working sessions, Mental Health Awareness, EDC Policy & H&S based topics, along with 6 externally delivered session. With these sessions capturing an overall total of 256 employees,
• Launch of 2022/2023 Coaching Conversation in Education,
• Within Payroll Services maintained and processed the payover of 6 payruns within timescales, with the completion of a series of statutory reports,
• Undertook work to support the re-enrolment of employees with regards to pension,
• Working with Shared Services and Homecare to review efficient process for timesheet completion,
• Preparatory work in relation to the SJC pay award, and completed increment application for Teaching Supply.

Place and Community Planning

Overview of Progress

Community Protection (Environmental Health, Trading Standards and Community Safety)

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 September the service has been actively engaged 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 towards 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 has 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. The team has welcomed in a new temporary Public Health Compliance Officer who will help to deliver a range of recommencing public health work that had been paused due to the pandemic. During September the team have been finalising remaining home inspections with regard to Ukrainian resettlement and preparing for delivery of projects in the coming months. In a similar vein, the Trading Standards Team has been 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 September has, amongst other things, included continuing work to develop the new Trading Standards Trusted Trader Scheme for the local authority 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, CCTV and pest control. 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 are now taking place or recommencing across the Council area.

Community Planning and Partnership Team

The team continue to manage the Community Grants Scheme. In round one 44 applications were received requesting £95,061.  The Grant Advisory Committee made recommendations to fund 44 organisations £68,985 funding, which was approved by the Community Planning Partnership Board.

The progress report on the Child Poverty annual reporting and planning for 2022-23 has been approved by Council and approved at the CP Board. The three drivers of child poverty reduction are agreed nationally as the areas where Councils and other Public Bodies can have most impact on child poverty reduction. These are increasing income from employment; maximising income from benefits; and reducing household costs and other costs of living.

Accessible collated consultation reports on the review of the four locality plans has been produced and approved by the CP Board.  Officers continue to work alongside our most deprived communities to support community capacity building and development opportunities, addressing poverty and inequalities.

Officers also continue to work alongside services and teams to deliver the Equalities outcomes.

We continue to work with Scottish Government, Homes Office and partners to deliver the resettlement agenda across East Dunbartonshire Council area. This includes working with partners to support VPRS and UDP.

Community Testing Team

The winter vaccination programme commenced on the 20th September, providing Covid and Flu vaccination to the oldest and most vulnerable in our communities. Clinics are scheduled for Tuesday and Wednesday at Kirkintilloch Town Hall, with Thursday, Friday and Saturday at Milngavie Town Hall. Due to the volume of appointment and the availability of NHS resources in vaccinators then queues had on a number of occasions been significant, however this has reduced greatly.

Council staff are working with the NHS to minimise queues and ensure the safety of those attending the clinic.

Key Achievements / Areas of Focus

Community Protection (Environmental Health, Trading Standards and Community Safety)

• 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 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 in the route out of the pandemic.
• The authority's results for testing homes on a private water supply are included within the Annual Private Waters Supply Report 2021 recently published demonstrating regulator and water standards compliance.
• Recent close working with Planning colleagues and SEPA on a variety of new development applications to provide comment on environmental considerations.
• Assisting EDC Education colleagues with revision of catering food safety procedures.
• Finalisation of blue-green algae monitoring for the year 2022 with risk assessments to be sent to Greater Glasgow and Clyde Health Board.
• Appropriate referrals and outcomes for a number of young persons referred to the Early & Effective Intervention Group which is coordinated and chaired by the Community Safety Team. 
• Delivery of water safety patrols at a number of key locations by the Community Wardens.
• Delivery of Football Friday sessions in the Milton of Campsie and Lennoxtown areas – youth diversionary activity managed and run by the Community Wardens with approximately 40 children attending each Friday evening.  Sessions have now finished for the year but will recommence next year with new areas likely to be included.
• The Junior Warden Scheme has recommenced with 28 primary 6 & 7 pupils from Harestanes Primary School currently taking part. There programme includes inputs from the Community Wardens, Police Scotland (cyber bullying), Scottish Fire & Rescue, Mugdock Rangers, Dogs Trust and also HSCP (drug and alcohol awareness).
• Delivery of effective field responses in relation to all trading standards and licensing service requests.
• On-going recommencement of Trading Standards and Licensing routine inspection and project work.
• Soft launch of the new Trusted Trader Scheme for East Dunbartonshire by Trading Standards with a number of local businesses expressing interest in joining the scheme.
• Delivery of a series of Trading Standards talks to Police Scotland and third sector partners.
• Trading Standards participation at a number of community events in conjunction with Health and Social Care Partnership colleagues.

Community Planning and Partnership Team

• Delivered round one of the community grant scheme.
• Provision of community capacity support using a Community Learning and Development approach across our Place areas and communities of interest.
• Produced in partnership with EDVA, HSCP and EDC Communications collated consultation reports on the review of locality plans.
• Delivering resettlement support under both VPRS and Homes for Ukraine agenda’s
• Coordinated the production of the Child Poverty Report and Plan 2022-2023
• Coordinated the CLD Plan 2021-24 Year 1 progress report.

Community Testing Team

• To continue to support delivery of the NHS vaccination programmes of flu and covid-19 at two town centre venues, and through use of the GGC NHS Board mobile vaccination bus at outlying communities, as is possible.

Roads and Environment

Overview of Progress

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 a number of 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 delivery both planned and reactive maintenance to both roads and street lighting assets. Regrettably, staff turnover and the subsequent vacancies continues to be an issue, but both teams are utilising the tools and resources available to ensure maintenance work continues. The capital programmes for both teams continue with the carriageway and footway resurfacing programme and lighting projects ongoing across East Dunbartonshire. Finally, winter maintenance preparation continues with the winter rock salt stock replenishment completed in advance of the October start date.

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 Team welcome the newly appointed Senior Traffic Officer and the recruitment of a Structural Engineer is ongoing.

Streetscene Operations

The team continues with seasonal grounds maintenance tasks including grass cutting and summery cyclical works within open spaces, schools grounds, sports grounds and community facilities.  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 team are scheduled to complete the 2022 Care of Garden Scheme – Care of Gardens Service | East Dunbartonshire Council with the summer seasonal workforce about to complete their contacted period later in October.

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 relate to working with community groups regarding Environmental Improvement Projects including path improvement, play area renovations, amenity planting, cemetery and allotment development. Unfortunately, staff turnover is now an issue for the team with a long-standing member of the team retiring and the Team Leader schedule to leave to pursue other opportunities. The recruitment process for both posts has commenced, but may leave the team short for a period.

Mugdock Country Park

The team have completed a first draft of the 2022-27 Mugdock Strategy as well as progressing several quotes for various improvements across the Country Park, and this will enter a period of initial consultation in-house prior to full consultation with the public and third party stakeholders. Year on year the September visitor numbers are well in excess of expectations.

Key Achievements / Areas of Focus

Roads Network Operations Teams (including Street Lighting)             

• EDC Internal Resurfacing Programme (non-coal tar location)
  
  • Balvie Road, Milngavie
  • Speirs Road, Bearsden
  • Pollock Drive, Bishopbriggs
• EDC External Resurfacing Programme (coal tar location)
  
  • Eileen Gardens, Bishopbriggs
  • Elspeth Gardens, Bishopbriggs
• EDC Internal Footway Resurfacing Programme (non-coal tar locations)
  
  • Drymen Road, Bearsden
  • Callieburn Road, Bishopbriggs
• EDC Street Lighting Capital/Replacement Projects
  
  • Ralston Road / Russell Drive, Bearsden (partly commissioned)
  • Station Road, Bearsden (ongoing)
  • Rosehill Road / School Road / Kings Park, Torrance (ongoing)
• EDC Christmas Lighting
  
  • Workshop testing and repair of Christmas lighting features in preparation for site installations commencing early October

*Some of the work listed was completed in July, but the Service are still awaiting disconnection by Scottish Power Energy Network (SPEN) to allow old columns to be removed.

Roads Technical & Engineering Teams -

Flood Risk & Drainage

• Park Burn Kirkintilloch - De-silting and regrading of burn works completed.
• River Glazert Restoration Project - Detail design works currently on going.
• Kelvin Tributaries River Restoration Project - Specification of Requirements (Scope) for concept design is currently being drafted and being reviewed by SEPA.
• River Kelvin Flood Defence Maintenance Contract - Awarded to WGM Ltd and start up meeting undertaken and annual service planned for week beginning 24 Oct.
• Climate Ready Park - to be reissued for tender process. Consultants pulling tender document together for re-tender in the coming weeks. 
• Some civils works have been undertaken by our framework contractor George Leslie at various locations and are complete.
• Ongoing CCTV and Vactor investigations at some recent flooding locations.
• CCTV of several road locations with reported drainage issues.
• Works completed at the following locations.
• 15 Thomson Dr Bearsden.
• Newlands Terrace, Milton of Campsie.
• Ashburn Road, Milngavie.
• Emergency works ongoing at Canniesburn Road, Bearsden.
• Investigations at Glenhead Road, Lenzie.
• Planned woks.
• Beaufort Drive, Kirkintilloch.
• Millersneuk Drive, Lenzie.
• Victoria Road, Lenzie.
• Maitland Drive, Torrance.
• Inverary Drive, Bishopbriggs.
• Hillside Drive, Bishopbriggs.
• Angus Avenue, Bishopbriggs.

Development

• Road inspections at development sites, monitoring site progression.
• Processing road opening and temporary traffic light permits, discussing acceptable dates for road occupation.
• Managing the coring programme with Socotec. Coring in the southwest area is complete, report bring prepared.
• Concluding adoptions and adding to the list of public roads.
• Asset collection on new developments, add to GIS.
• Attend national RAUCS meeting.
• Liaise with developers to get remedial works completed.

Structures

• The team have taken on an interim Structure Engineer via an agency while the recruitment process for a permanent appointment continues.
• General inspections are ongoing.
• Benvue underpass Lennoxtown strengthening works.
• Alnwick culverts Crow Rd strengthening works.
• Millersneuk culvert safety fence installation.
• The clearing of vegetation around bridges and culverts at various locations throughout Lennoxtown to allow access for principal inspections.
• Strengthening works to Alnwick Bridge Crow Road completed.
• Strengthening works to Parkburn Bridge Kirkintilloch completed.

Traffic

• A new Senior Traffic Officer has been appointed with a start date scheduled in October.
• Traffic Regulation Orders are being progressed for Clachan of Campsie; Crosshill Road, Bishopbriggs and Manse Road, Bearsden.
• Attendance at various regional and national meetings related to road safety.
• The team are providing technical support for City Deal projects and Canniesburn Toll.
• The team are working through various locations installing new or replacing street signs as per customer requests.
• The team are assessing and installing new disabled bays and removal
• The team continue to assess areas for potential traffic calming and pedestrian crossings

Greenspace & Streetscene Teams

Streetscene Operations

• Street cleansing and associated tasks such as removal of fly posting and uplifting of fly tipping, mechanical street sweeping and installing replacement or additional bins.
• Graffiti removal.
• Ongoing cemetery operations, digging and carrying out interments, cemetery grass cutting, installing headstone foundations, benches etc.
• Cyclic grass cutting of open spaces, Housing estates, sports pitches, school grounds, open space hedge cuts.
• COG service continuance.
• Housing one off grass cuts.
• Cutting of scatter flats, Lead Tenancies and temporary accommodation.
• Checking and clearance of culverts.
• Play park inspection and repair.
• Watering and maintenance of hanging baskets; removal of baskets.
• Football pitch initial mark and overlining; goalpost installation.
• School and flowerbed emptying and preparation for spring bedding; shrub bed facing up; cutting and removal of wildflower meadow areas Responding to Customer Service Requests and complaints.
• Second verge and hedge yearly cut completed by external contractor.
• Culvert grill cleaning and monitoring.
• Second cycle of spraying of Japanese knotweed.

Streetscene Technical Support

• Climate Ready Park at Woodhill & Etive Open Space underway discussions with procurement regarding re-tender.
• Audit of War Memorial sites in preparation for Remembrance Sunday.
• Peel Park Band Stand wild flower preparation and creation being organised and order issued
• Internal Tree audit preliminary meeting and review completed and discussions underway in regard to digitisation of tree survey records; discussion regarding Ash Dieback and preparation of survey and audit..
• Works start on sites to be restored as part of the Scottish Government’s Nature Restoration Grant.  Lenzie Moss Boardwalk contract awarded, team working with Procurement to progress..
• KLR and BRR works ongoing; final grass cut of the year completed.
• Litter picking activity as part of cross-working partnership with Keep Scotland Beautiful initiative for verge cleaning, finalised.
• Ongoing surveying and removal of dangerous trees or limbs; scheduling of tree works in new financial year. 
• Finalisation of specification for Horticultural framework tender and returned to procurement, awaiting issue.
• Responding to a number of planning applications
• Play park defect repair work ongoing.
• Liaison with Waterside Community Council regarding Greenspace Improvement Plan.
• Organisation of LEAMS 4 survey.
• Mosshead Play Park upgrade Brief for Contractors issued for tender return.
• Westerton Play Park upgrade Brief for Contractors issued for tender return.
• Etive Park Play Park upgrade Brief for Contractors issues for tender return.
• Team working with City Deal Team and consultants in relation to masterplan of Bishopbriggs Public Park.
• CCTV survey and cleaning of drainage system started in all active Cemeteries and cleaning thereof.
• Order raised for relaying setts and paving at Milton of Campsie Cros.
•  Orders raised for a number of fencing projects across the LA area.
• Cut and lift of wildflower meadows started.
• Input into Additional Capital investment for drainage, active travel/access and footway surfacing.
•  Working with procurement regardingsecond phase in preparation.
• Colquhoun Park SUDS Typha weed wiped along with Low Moss and Lenzie Moss Birch Scrub weed wiped; Allander Fish Pass; Lennox Park and Barloch Muir Skunk Cabbage weed wipe complete
• Quotes sought for 2 new carved benches at Merkland LNR.
• Order raised for path upgrade Barloch Moor, Milngavie.
• Assisting with Lenzie Meadow Primary School re school ground improvements
• Quote sought for replacement of defunct steps, McArthur Park, Lenzie.
• .The team continues to respond to high volume of open space, tree and bereavement enquires, along with planning application consultations and complaints.
• Order raised for bulbs or the annual Bulb Competition.

Mugdock Country Park

• NatureScot's Better Places Fund is in place for Seasonal Rangers who have been 'boots on the ground' patrolling the Country Park.
• Partnership working with Scottish Water to deliver Countryside Ranger services around Milngavie Reservoirs and neighbouring parts of the Country Park;
• Project development including Quarry Fence tender, Walled Garden design, replacement bbq structures, car park design.
• The new Mugdock Strategy was presented to the Joint Management Committee and will go through a final consultation process prior to final approval.
• Countryside Ranger events including Go Barry in Bishopbriggs, Forest School - Minibeasts Galore!, Tattie Race - Lennoxtown, Mugdock Sensational Sundown Safari, Fungus Amungus at Mugdock, Charcoal Pencil Making.
• Countryside Rangers have been working with schools over the month of September covering outdoor Forest Schools activities.
• Land management tasks include removal of bracken, himalayan balsam, rhododendron.
• A tree survey of the Park was completed and has highlighted a prioritised programme of work.
• Moving to online ticketing.  Events with online purchase include the Christmas Pantomime by Fizzgig Theatre Company, and Mugdock Christmas Wonderland by Beautiful Events.
• Mugdock Castle opened on Doors Open Day with volunteer stewards through Mugdock Trust and over 500 visitors over the 2 days.