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THE council has agreed to spend approximately £45,000 over the next two years on a community project designed to help reduce fuel poverty in rural areas of Fermanagh and Omagh.
At tonight’s Regeneration and Community Committee meeting, Fermanagh and Omagh District Council (FODC) councillors voted in favour of working alongside National Energy Action (NEA) Northern Ireland to deliver the community-based energy project to support people experiencing, or who are at risk of, fuel poverty.
NEA has provisionally-secured a funding contribution of an estimated £45,000 from Ulster Garden Villages to deliver this project, subject to match funding from the FODC.
The proposed project, which will take place from 2026 to 2028, will focus on rural areas across Fermanagh and Omagh where reliance on heating oil and poor housing conditions significantly increase fuel poverty risks.
Priority groups will include older people, individuals with disabilities, people at the end of life, families with young children, low-income households and marginalised communities most at risk of being left-behind in the transition to net-zero.
‘Money well spent’
Sinn Féin’s Councillor Greene welcomed the project.
“I think £45,000 over two years would be money well spent,” he said. “I’m glad to see that the project is focusing on the rural areas.
“I would presume we would get a report back at the end of the two years to analyse what benefits there have been of it?
“I would also hope that there would be time and work going into seeing whether there is a possibility that the programme could be extended beyond the two years.”
As part of the project, households will receive confidential, independent advice to reduce energy costs, and access benefits and crisis funding along with managing their debt and understanding their rights.
Frontline workers within the local community and voluntary sectors will also be trained as ‘Energy Champions’. This training will cover fuel poverty, energy efficiency, damp and mould and debt support.
NEA is the UK’s leading fuel poverty charity, committed to ending the crisis of cold homes.
The proposed project directly aligns with outcomes and priorities identified in the Fermanagh and Omagh Community Plan 2030, the Fermanagh and Omagh District Council Corporate Plan 2024-2028 and the Fermanagh and Omagh Anti-Poverty Strategy 2024-2034 titled ‘Pathways out of Poverty’.
