THE end of 2019 coincides with the end of my first year as a local democracy reporter at the Glasgow Times.

I’m one of almost 150 reporters across the UK tasked with covering our local authorities, letting residents know what their councils are up to. In Glasgow, it ranges from budgets to bin collections and public parades to Provost’s expenses.

Early this year, a deal was agreed in the long-running equal pay saga between Glasgow City Council and nearly 16,000 of its former and current staff. Council leader Susan Aitken said it was one of the “most significant papers we’re going to consider during our time as councillors”.

In the same week, Extinction Rebellion protesters disrupted a council meeting to demand urgent action on climate change. “Climate breakdown is going to destroy this city,” they said.

The organisation was invited to join a climate emergency working group, which has since published recommendations for addressing the issue.

More protests took place later in February when unions and residents gathered outside the city chambers to voice fears over cuts, as the SNP administration’s budget was passed.

“We’ve had ten years of austerity,” Unison’s Brian Smith told me. “Services are getting poorer, communities are suffering.”

A 3% rise in council tax, a reduction in bin collections and an increase in council car parking charges were announced.

The month also saw shocking figures released which revealed the number of cars being towed for suspected abuse of disabled blue badges. Enforcement officers uplifted 270 cars from April to December in 2018, 72 more than from April 2017 to April 2018.

In March, a consultation was launched on the future of Notre Dame High School, the country’s last state-funded single-sex school.

I also reported on the public processions committee as an Easter Sunday parade by a loyalist group, which was set to pass a Catholic church where a priest had previously been attacked following an Orange march, was re-routed.

Councillors made the decision to change the parade after receiving intelligence from the police.

Another loyalist march was re-routed to avoid the church in June, with Police Scotland saying almost 200 officers could have been required to deal with the parade and counter-protesters.

The scale of the child poverty problem in Glasgow was laid out later in April. A council report revealed 50,000 children are expected to be living in poverty in the next two years.

Welfare reforms, Universal Credit and in-work poverty, where parents are in part-time, low-paid jobs, were some of the issues blamed for the rise.

City Treasurer Allan Gow said tackling the problem was “arguably our city’s greatest challenge over the next decade”.

Back at the public processions committee, All Under One Banner refused to change the start time of a pro-independence rally despite warnings from police and fire chiefs. Emergency services feared the estimated 100,000-strong march would have a detrimental impact on the city centre. Organisers refused to alter the advertised time and the march went ahead.

In May, fed-up parks workers spoke out about the state of the city’s green spaces, claiming staff shortages were impacting maintenance. But the council insisted “comprehensive” maintenance would be carried out.

Golfers were up in arms in June when it was revealed Glasgow Life, the council’s cultural and sporting arm, was launching a consultation on the future of the city’s public courses.

It claimed there is low usage and a “substantial annual deficit”. Axing the courses had been considered during planning for the budget earlier in the year.

Consultation was extended due to the amount of interest and a report on its findings is due in the new year.

At the end of the month, all political groups agreed the council should explore taking the city’s buses back into public ownership.

With First Group announcing its UK operations were going up for sale, Labour councillor Matt Kerr said: “Deregulation has failed. We need to look at a new model to deliver this and put it safely in public hands.”

Keeping up with planning applications is part of a local democracy reporter’s day-to-day tasks. A major application to build more than 200 homes on the site which once hosted Glasgow Garden Festival was given the go-ahead in July.

Developers described the plan as the “final piece of the jigsaw” in the regeneration of Pacific Quay.

I also visited the Egyptian Halls, regarded by many as Alexander “Greek” Thomson’s finest work. The decaying gem needs extensive repairs and owner Derek Souter said he wants to put years of stalled deals behind him to save the building.

Repairs will cost tens of millions of pounds but Mr Souter believes the Union Street property is the ideal location for a new hotel.

As summer continued, Labour councillor Martin McElroy called for a review of the role of the Lord Provost after a string of incidents including accepting a Rolls Royce, refusing to fly the Rainbow flag and scrapping an annual Burns supper.

SNP councillor Eva Bolander later stepped down from the role after an expenses row following a Freedom of Information request.

She would repay a quarter of the £8000 she claimed for clothes, shoes and make-overs to perform her civic duties.

There was also another visit to the public processions committee when Police Scotland called for a republican flute band, under investigation for potentially breaching the Terrorism Act, to be banned from two marches in Glasgow.

The force feared the band’s presence could put public order at risk as officers said tensions around marches continued to rise. Organisers agreed the band wouldn’t take part in an Irish Unity Parade on August 30, but councillors allowed it to take part in a later parade.

Protesters descended on the unity march and chaos erupted in Govan. One eyewitness described an “absolute war zone” as barricades were erected and mounted officers, a helicopter and dog units rushed to the scene.

It led to an unprecedented processions committee decision to prohibit all loyalist and republican marches over one weekend in September. Consultation on the impact of parades has just finished.

There was positive news later in the month, when council leader Ms Aitken revealed the prestigious UN climate change conference COP26 would visit the city next year and could boost the hospitality sector by by more than £73 million.

By October, the SNP administration had decided to support opening up Notre Dame to boys.

A decision was eventually agreed by all political groups on the council, despite protests from girls at the school.

Glasgow was named the European Capital of Sport for 2023 in November. “Sport is part of this great city’s DNA and our record in successfully hosting some of the world’s biggest and best sporting events is something we are renowned for,” Glasgow Life chairman David McDonald said.

And I revealed the council’s bold ideas to transform the centre of Glasgow over the next 30 years. They include cutting the number of car journeys in half, revamping bus services, new “urban” parks and public spaces and turning the riverside into an attractive destination.

However, community councillors have warned cracking down on cars could be impractical for commuters.

I discovered Anu Sarker, the former owner of a care home branded a “squalid enterprise” after a resident’s death, had bid to turn another empty home into a nursery. She insisted she would not be involved in running the nursery if the plan was approved.

Mrs Sarker and her husband Dr Rahda Sarker previously owned the Glengova Residential Home, where a 79-year-old woman died after she was admitted to hospital “dehydrated and emaciated”.

By the end of the year, the UK General Election campaign was in full swing. We covered each constituency, highlighting what residents identified as the major issues, and I was at the SEC as the SNP completed a clean sweep in Glasgow, taking all seven seats.