EAST Dunbartonshire is a rare beast in Scottish politics, having been run for the last four years by a Labour-Conservative coalition.

After the 2007 election the SNP was the biggest party with eight seats, Labour had six, the Conservatives four, LibDems four and Independents two.

But in a move that saw politicians from the left and the right unite to keep the SNP out of power, Labour and the Tories formed the current administration.

That was a change in political direction from the previous council which was run by the Liberal Democrats but they lost control, not least because of grievances among voters over thoroughly local issues, including fortnightly waste collections after the introduction of kerbside collections for recycling plastics, glass, metals and paper.

Despite that loss of popularity, however, there is a core LibDem vote in the area as was seen when Jo Swinson retained the East Dunbartonshire Westminster seat in 2010.

However, a former LibDem councillor, Duncan Cumming who quit the party in protest at the Coalition Government's welfare changes,  has warned it faces a difficult time at the ballot box for ditching its "core, fundamental roots". He is standing again but as an independent.

In total, 45 candidates from 10 parties are contesting 24 seats in the area's eight wards. Local communities include Bearsden, Bishopbriggs, Kirkintilloch, Lennoxtown, Lenzie, Milngavie, Milton of Campsie, Torrance and Twechar.

In 2007 a Reader's Digest poll voted East Dunbartonshire the best place in the UK to raise a family because of its "safe streets, strong schools and thriving towns".

The following year it was the only Scottish local authority to appear in a UK top 20 in the Halifax Bank Quality of Life survey. It earned its place for its employment rate, owner-occupancy, health and education standards. Unemployment at 2.8% is low but there are still more than 1100 people on Job Seekers Allowance.

Among the issues being raised with candidates are calls for a circular bus service around Bearsden and Milngavie following the axing of a route leaving many people facing with difficulties.

A petition with more than 1600 signatures calling for the service to be retained was handed in to Government headquarter at St Andrew's House in Edinburgh recently  and a temporary solution has now been found. However, prospective councillors are being pressed to find a long-term answer.

Gary Groves, president of the local Chamber of Commerce, said other current issues included business rates and empty properties. He said the new council had to address both to help attract new businesses to the area.

In 2007, the SNP came from having no councillors to becoming the biggest party and though they've been kept out of power by the Labour-Tory coalition, group leader Ian MacKay is hopeful of again being the biggest party.

He criticised the current administration for its failure to spend only 48% of the capital budget last year.

He said: "In this economic climate. How many jobs is that, how many potholes, how much school infrastructure was not repaired because they were not spending this money? A big issue is the school estate – nothing has been spent on it in the last five years and some of the schools are getting into a bad shape so something must be done about it."

Labour's Rhondda Geekie, the council leader, claimed the cross-party alliance with the Tories had done as much as possible. She dismissed Mr MacKay's criticism of the council's spending, saying cash had been ring-fenced to support programmes that were continuing year to year.

Ms Geekie also said the council consulted the public on its spending so people were involved in its plans and among the plans was investment in primary schools.