Chief Executive's Update: Issue 09/2025

Dear all, 

I hope everyone has made the most of the sunshine, albeit it has been a bit too hot at times, and a warm welcome back to those that have enjoyed some annual leave.

It’s been another busy four weeks with the completion of Bearsden Primary School’s refurbishment, the latest round of Community Grants opening, and the unveiling of the Milton of Campsie Fairy Woods.

In Employee News 16 we let you know that we had made some changes to our Accommodation Strategy with the HQ remaining at the Marina while Southbank House will remain a non-operational Council asset converted for commercial use.

The aim is to vacate Southbank House and secure tenants in 2026, and we will keep you all updated on the progress of this throughout the year.

Also, as many of you will know Glasgow City Council suffered a cyber incident which affected their online payment portal. On the back of this it’s essential we all know how to be safe online and what we can do to stay cyber resilient. You can find out more by reading Employee News 9 and Employee News 17.

For everyone who is taking some time off in the next four weeks have a wonderful time and thank you everyone for all your hard work.

All employees are encouraged to complete the Council’s Equality Outcomes Consultation to help us ensure fairness for all in East Dunbartonshire, whether that’s residents, pupils, or our workforce.

We are committed to advancing equality, eliminating discrimination, and fostering positive relationships between diverse groups and this is your chance to help us achieve this.

You can complete the consultation by visiting the Consultation page on our website before Friday 5 September.

EDLC has teamed up with the HSCP to set up Health Information Hubs in all local libraries. Each library in the area now has designated space with a range of materials available on various health and wellbeing issues, local services, and community groups. 

All Library employees have gone through training in health literacy provided by NHSGGC, while HSCP’s Health Improvement team delivered Digital Champions training supported by local population health profiling data, and health and wellbeing workshops. 

A huge thanks to everyone at EDLC and HSCP who have worked hard on this project over the last two years and to those that will continue to ensure the Information Hubs are a success. You can find out more on the News Section of our website.

We will begin enforcing the national pavement parking ban from Monday 1 September 2025. The Transport (Scotland) Act 2019 prohibits pavement parking, double parking and parking across dropped kerbs, in order to improve the safety of pedestrians, particularly those with mobility issues, visual impairments, and parents or carers with pushchairs. 

You can find out more including any exemptions (streets and usage) on our dedicated Pavement Parking Ban webpage.

As usual, our Monthly Wellbeing Focus is updated each month with key campaigns and details of support all employees can access. You can read the Time for Talking Wellbeing Times newsletter and find out more about the Deskto3K initiative. You can access this information on the Employee Zone.

Gillian McEwan from our Learning and Organisational Development team is doing a tandem skydive next month for a charity she works closely with called Rocks Project Uganda. The charity works with communities to help educate, feed and care for families in poverty. If you want to sponsor Gillian you can visit her Just Giving page.

Thanks,

Ann