East Renfrewshire Council is to bring forward its review of orders process and will commence immediately to assess area orders on a prioritised basis before implementing the full statutory process which the review of the orders will require.

Each area order will take a minimum of six months to complete, but could take much longer depending on the number of objections which may be submitted during the statutory process.

A list of which areas will be prioritised will be made available as soon as possible as all orders cannot be reviewed at one time.

At a meeting of the full council on Thursday 16 May 2013 statements regarding the recent establishment of decriminalised parking were made.

Convenor for infrastructure and sustainable growth, Councillor Tony Buchanan, who has responsibility for roads, and the convener for community services, Councillor Mary Montague, whose remit includes community wardens who undertake parking enforcement, both made statements.

The council heard that decriminalised parking had come into force on 2 April 2013 and following an initial two weeks 'grace period' where information notices were posted on cars which had parked illegally. Decriminalised parking was fully established on 15 April this year.

Councillors at the meeting also heard that no new parking regulations had come into force and that the council were simply enforcing parking restrictions continued over from the Strathclyde Police regime.

Whilst community wardens are prioritising the enforcement of parking at peak traffic flow periods to ensure the free flow of traffic and to improve road safety, they can still enforce breaches of parking restrictions at any other times in line with Traffic Regulation Orders across the council area. 

Following weeks of anticipation, the applications have been submitted, scores have been counted and can now reveal the short list for the East Renfrewshire Business Awards 2013
East Renfrewshire Chamber of Commerce President, John Hamilton, "The quality of the entrants was extremely high and the short listed nominees reflect the sheer breadth of business success throughout East Renfrewshire - from small start-ups and individual entrepreneurs to long-established businesses."

Principal Sponsor, The Avenue Shopping Centre's marketing manager, Michelle McCabe explained, "The winners will all be announced by broadcast journalist, Sally Magnusson at the Gala Dinner on Thursday 6^th June, at Dalmeny Park Country House Hotel.

Councillor Tony Buchanan, convener for sustainability and infrastructure, "Come and join us for a night of celebration and networking on Thursday 6^th June 2013 at the Dalmeny Park Country House Hotel."

Tickets for this event are now on sale and can be purchased online at the East Renfrewshire Chamber of Commerce website or call the events team directly on 0141 887 6181.   

The short listed companies are:

Outstanding Performing Business - Sponsored by East Renfrewshire Council

AC Whyte & Co Ltd

JM Murdoch & Son Ltd

WG Renfrew Ltd

Retailer of the Year Award < 10 employees - sponsored by The Avenue Shopping Centre

About Living

F&M Hairdressing

Kevan Scott Goldsmiths Ltd

Retailer of the Year Award >10 employees - Sponsored by Asda

Abientot

Barrhead Travel

Caulders Garden Centre

Most Promising New Business- sponsored by Business Gateway

Glasgow Fitness Ltd

Tailor Maid Homecare Ltd

The Wee Fudge Company

Tourism Award - Sponsored by East Renfrewshire A Place to Grow

Caulders Garden Centre

Uplawmoor Hotel

Family Business Award - Sponsored by Gleniffer Estates

J & M Murdoch & Son Ltd

Teejay Publishers

WG Renfrew

Home Worker Award - Sponsored by Manorview Hotels & Leisure

Ideeas Ltd

Lauras Dresses

S.O. Creative 

In the 'Oscars' of the Scottish accountancy world, East Renfrewshire Council's accountancy team has been shortlisted as a finalist.

The team are up for the 'public sector finance team of the year' category in the 2013 Scottish Accountancy Awards.

The winners will be announced in a ceremony at the Hilton Hotel on 20 June 2013.

The awards, which are in their sixth year, celebrate the success of the accounting industry and recognise the skills and achievements of accountants in both the public sector and in private companies.

Councillor McAlpine, East Renfrewshire convener for corporate services said: "The accountancy team has done exceptionally well to be recognised and shortlisted for a national award. It is a tribute to the hard work and efforts of everyone who works in the team and provides an outstanding service to local people."

East Renfrewshire is backing the nationwide Give Me Cycle Space campaign.

And as part of the programme, primary pupils have been treated to a stunning display of riding from one of the country's top stunt teams.

The Riderz called into Crookfur and Mearns schools to put on a show for around 1,000 children.

Give Me Cycle Space is a campaign to remind drivers to look out for children cycling to school.

It's the fourth year East Renfrewshire Council has joined the national Cycling Scotland drive, with schools in the Newton Mearns area the focus this year.

Mearns, Crookfur, St Cadoc's and Kirkhill primaries are all taking part.

All are working towards Cycling Scotland's Cycle Friendly Schools award status and are also taking part in Bikeability cycle training, with St Cadoc's and Crookfur training on-road for the first time.

This programme is designed to give children the road skills required to make independent journeys, so training takes place on roads in a real traffic environment, rather than in the playground.

Banners have also been put up on lampposts on routes to schools to reinforce the message to drivers.

And East Renfrewshire schools have been taking part in Cycle to School Week.

The five Newton Mearns schools are the latest to get involved in safe cycling in East Renfrewshire - eight schools have already been awarded  Cycle Friendly School status and 10 primaries delivered the Bikeability Scotland on-road training in 2012.

During their visits to Mearns and Crookfur, The Riderz team took time to chat to pupils about cycling, why it is the best mode of transport for getting to and from school, and also to pass on safety tips.

Roads convener, Councillor Tony Buchanan said: "I am always pleased to see young people leaving their computers behind at home and cycling either to and from school or to our parks and sports centres. But I am conscious that they should feel safe on their bikes.

"Wearing protective helmets and brightly coloured clothing and reflectors all help keep our youngsters from harm but we must also remind drivers to give the cyclists space and plenty of room when they pass them on the road.

"I am delighted the Give Me Cycle Space campaign and The Riderz have been visiting East Renfrewshire, not only to pass on sound safety advice but also to entertain the young people with daredevil cycle stunts."

As well as reminding drivers to be aware of and considerate of young cyclists, Give Me Cycle Space also aims to tackle parents' fear of letting their children cycle alongside traffic on the roads.

East Renfrewshire Councils trading standards team has been alerted to a new business scam.

A  business in Busby received a letter from a German based company, TVV Tele Vereichis Verlag GmbH, informing them that it  had  it owned The UK Corporate Portal which had the VAT registrations of UK companies.

The letter implied that our local company had to supply its VAT registration number to them so that they could put it on their website. Hidden in the letter was that this display would be in the form of an advert and they would charge £797 annually for three years and a fourth year is added unless terminated in writing.

Environment convener Councillor Vincent Waters said: "In this harsh economic climate the last thing we want is for East Renfrewshire businesses to be taken in by this sort of scam. I would urge all local businesses to follow trading standards advice and ignore this letter if you receive it."

Steve Fox, principal trading standards officer, said: "This is a scam on lots of levels. Not all businesses have to register VAT. In 2012 a company had to have a turnover in excess of £77,000.

"Companies that are liable will have VAT registration number but that is allocated by HMRC who keep a register of these numbers.

"There is no need to have the number registered elsewhere. The letter states that German law applies but why would a legitimate contract signed in the UK state that German law applies?

"Lastly the website does not exist so you would be paying for nothing. But if you did not pay any invoice then there would follow a letter threatening legal action in Germany. Of course no action would take place.

"My advice would be to ignore this letter. Just bin it."

This year's Volunteers' Week focuses on saying 'Thank You' to all volunteers who regularly contribute so much to our society.

Just in 2009-10, 39% or 28,000 adults in East Renfrewshire participated in formal volunteering, donating almost 10 million hours to their community.

Services and initiatives that are vital to the running of our country simply wouldn't exist if it wasn't for volunteers.

But volunteering has an even greater value than ensuring our essential community services function and national events are a success. Every year, millions of people help others in all sorts of ways, most of which they probably wouldn't even think of as volunteering.

Ruth Gallagher, Deputy Chief Officer at Voluntary Action East Renfrewshire (VAER) says;

"Volunteering makes a crucial contribution to binding our communities, building cooperation and trust between individuals, and helping to make our communities better places to live and work."

For individuals, Volunteers' Week is the perfect time to think about joining the growing community of volunteers who enjoy the opportunities and experiences that volunteering gives them.

VAER will be running information stalls at Auchenback Resource Centre, Tuesday 4^th of June from 10am- 2pm and at ASDA Newton Mearns Wednesday 5^th June from 10am-5pm, where staff will be providing information and advice about volunteering including what types of opportunities are available in East Renfrewshire.

The volunteer advisors will also be available all week at our office in Barrhead, Monday - Friday 9am - 5pm. At the end of the week, VAER will be hosting a recognition ceremony to thank their 1to1 volunteers and highlight their contribution to the organisation and the wider community.

This is the perfect opportunity for East Renfrewshire organisations to organise 'Thank You' events and activities celebrating their volunteers' commitment and achievements.

For more information or resources on Volunteers' Week please contact Voluntary Action East Renfrewshire underCOVER, 56 Kelburn Street, Barrhead, G78 1LR, TEL 0141 876 9555 or log on to the Voluntary Action website.

A former East Renfrewshire head boy has won a place at one of the world's top universities.

Neil McAlpine is to join Princeton in the United States to study for his PhD in chemistry.

He was previously head boy at Williamwood High School in Clarkston.

Princeton is among the world's top 10 most prestigious universities, alongside the likes of Oxford, Cambridge and Harvard.

Neil beat global competition to secure his place - he will be the only student from the UK on his course.

He had to travel to London to sit the entrance exams, which were also held in cities around the world.

The course at Princeton starts in August, with Neil relocating from East Renfrewshire to New Jersey in mid-summer.

Neil graduated from the University of Glasgow in 2012 with a first-class honours degree in chemistry. He is currently working in a research lab in Liverpool.

He was Williamwood High head boy from 2003 to 2004.

His success has been publicly recognised by East Renfrewshire Council, with both education and equalities convener Elaine Green and director of education John Wilson congratulating him on his success at the recent education committee.

Councillor Green said: "Very many congratulations to Neil on what is truly an incredible achievement.

"Princeton is renowned as one of the very best seats of learning, so to be offered a place, against global competition from the world's brightest minds, is simply fantastic.

"Neil was an outstanding pupil and head boy of Williamwood High and is a real credit to the school, not to mention his own talents and hard work.

"I look forward to hearing of what will undoubtedly be further successes to come for Neil."

Neil is the youngest son of Councillor Ian McAlpine and his wife Kate, who live in Giffnock.

Further funding of £93,000 has been approved by East Renfrewshire Council for the new synthetic, all weather football pitch at Eastwood Park, Giffnock.

Since 2009 the council has been working with Giffnock Soccer Centre (GSC) to deliver a 100m x 60m pitch within the park.

In February this year a planning application was approved for the installation of a synthetic sports pitch with eight 15m high floodlighting columns and associated fencing.

Whilst it was initially intended that the pitch could be funded through a combination of grant funding and by Giffnock Soccer Centre itself, it was not possible to achieve this and, consequently, the council agreed to a financial contribution of £320,000 during 2012/13.

In relocating the pitch from the former tree nursery site to its proposed location between St Ninian's High and Eastwood House, additional costs were encountered.

The council has, therefore, agreed to provide an additional £93,000 from the capital reserve to support the project.

The council will now make the necessary arrangements to proceed to tender for the construction of the pitch and to finalise lease terms with Giffnock Soccer Centre.

Once constructed, the pitch will be owned by the council but leased to GSC under a 25 year lease. GSC will then operate, maintain and manage the pitch with St. Ninian's High School having access to the pitch during the school day and at specified school holiday times during summer and Easter.  

East Renfrewshire Council has been praised for its strong performance after an external audit.

An annual review of the authority has been carried out by Audit Scotland and a range of other inspectorates.

And their overall assessment of the council is very positive.

Audit Scotland and a number of other external partners, including the Care Commission and Education Scotland, examined East Renfrewshire's performance.

In their report, they agreed with the council's objective that 'residents are served by one of the best councils in Scotland, driving change, efficiency and innovation'.

Inspectors also said the council's 'overall performance is good with high levels of customer satisfaction'.

Other findings include:

• East Renfrewshire's children's services are among the best in Scotland
• Community care is in line with or slightly better than the Scottish average
• The council has been effective in addressing budget issues over a three-year timeframe with significant targets
• There is a well-developed corporate management system in place
• The Public Service Excellence programme is embedded in the working culture and continues to identify opportunities to improve the efficiency and quality of services provided
• Proper scrutiny of activities is done by councillors and officers.

The inspectors also reassessed last year's report on the council. Two areas highlighted for further scrutiny - the housing stock condition survey and the homelessness service - have now been judged as needing no further review.

Leader of the council, Councillor Jim Fletcher, said: "Everyone should be extremely proud of this report.

"East Renfrewshire Council considers itself to be one of the best councils in Scotland and takes pride in providing a first-class service to its residents.

"This very positive review is testament to that commitment to excellence and it is great to hear Audit Scotland praise the council's performance."

All Scottish councils are examined on a yearly basis by the group of external auditors.

East Renfrewshire Council are holding a Facilities Management Job Fayre.

There will be two held on the following date and times:

Barrhead Offices - Tuesday 11th June 10:00am till 2:00pm

Thorntree Hall - Wednesday 12th June - 10:00am till 2:00pm.

There will be the following posts advertised:

• Catering posts from 10 hours to 16.25 hours (School term)
• Cleaning posts from 10 hours and 37 hour (Nightshift)
• Various casual posts

Reference details must be provided on application form supplied.