inform-residents-newsletter-spring-summer-2016 (2)

Chief Executive’s Message The first year of Fermanagh andOmaghDistrict Council is drawing to a close. While it has been a period of ‘settling in’ for the newCouncil, it has also been an exceptionally busy one, aswe have continued to develop the structure of the organisation, aswell aswork towards delivering on the vision of making the district “the place of choice –where people, communities and businesses prosper”. The Council has a newduty to lead a community planning process and has been working during the past year on developing a draft Community Plan. Youwill find details on this within this newsletter. There is also a requirement on councils to continuously improve and to produce an annual plan indicating howwe plan to do so. Our draft Corporate Improvement Plan 2016/2017 is being consulted on at present, andwill be published in June. An outline of the Improvement Objectives and associated projects for the coming year are also included in this newsletter. The collection and disposal of wastewill cost the Council over £9million in the coming year, accounting for about 30%of net expenditure. Each year landfill tax increases, and from1April 2016will be £84.40 per tonne. It is essential that the amount of waste going to landfill is reduced, andwe have been developing newways of helping you, the residents of the district, to do this. The newBin-ovation appwill help you to keep track of howandwhere various items of householdwaste can be disposed of and recycled, andwe are continuing to improve thewastemanagement infrastructurewith the upgrading of the Recycling Centre in Irvinestown, making it easier to recycle more. New regulations aimed at reducing the amount of foodwaste going to landfill were the impetus for a separate foodwaste collection for about 3,500 rural households across the district. Foodwaste caddies and compostable liners have been supplied to households on selected collection routes, and I would urge thosewho have received them to use them to themaximum. Further initiatives to promote recycling and separationwill be rolled out over the coming year. One of the corporate themes in the Council’s Corporate Plan is to protect and create quality places andwe do this, not only by keeping the towns and villages clean and litter-free and creating colourful planting schemes during the summermonths, but also by enforcing the CleanNeighbourhoods and Environment legislation. Enforcement Officers will continue to issue Fixed Penalty Notices and take other appropriate action to combat littering, fly-posting and dog-fouling around the district. Our district is a place of outstanding natural beauty.We are committed to protecting and enhancing our environment and encouraging the people and communities of the district to take pride in their surroundings so that we have a high quality district where people want to live, work and visit. I hope you find this newsletter interesting and informative in bringing you up to date with thework of the Council. Please contact us with your views and ideas, particularly on our draft Corporate Improvement Plan 2016/2017, and engagewith the process to develop a Community Plan for our district. 01 02 Chairman’s Welcome It ismy great pleasure as Chairman of Fermanagh andOmaghDistrict Council to introduce this issue of ‘Inform’, the residents’ newsletter for the Council area. The Council came into being on 1April 2015 and this first year has been incredibly busy. One of themajor challenges facing the new Council was to ensure that the transition between the legacy Councils and the new Council was as seamless as possible given that the newmodel represented themost significant redesign of local government inmore than 40 years. I believe that we havemade excellent progress and I would like to pay tribute to the staff who have demonstrated their commitment and willingness to ensure that the high level of service previously delivered has been maintained. The Council is also committed to the ethos of continuous improvement in terms of the breadth of delivery of services and responsiveness to ever changing demands. As Chairman of the Council, I have thoroughly enjoyedmy time in office working alongside the Vice Chairman, Councillor Paul Robinson, to ensure that there is a civic presence at asmany events as possible throughout the district. It has been an extremely busy, but ultimately very rewarding experience. I have attended events right across the district and have been privileged tomeet manywonderful people. I had the honour of opening both theOASIS Plaza and the Castle Basin Promenade which have providedOmagh and Enniskillen with excellent facilities in close proximity to the respective town centres. Indeed both have been used for Council events at Halloween andwill, I have no doubt be usedwith increasing frequency in the years ahead. Both the Vice Chairman and I have attendedmany events which have enjoyed a prominence far beyond the confines of the district, events such as the All IrelandCycling Championships, the All Ireland Pipe Band Championships and theUlster Fleadh. In conjunctionwithmy fellowCouncillors, we are also endeavouring to engagewith all residents across the district in relation to themajor long term initiatives such as the development of a Community Plan and a TourismStrategy for the district. We, as public representatives, are elected by you, the people of the district, to act in your best interests to ultimately improve the quality of life of all the residents. This newsletter is verymuch central to the Council’s objective of engagingwith you to keep you updated on developments across the district. Good communications are key to putting in place the foundations for a positive relationship. However the Council acknowledges that for communication to be effective it must be a two-way process. Please feel free to contact the Council with your views on the content or format of the newsletter or, indeed, if you have a general comment tomake about any aspect of the work of the Council. Your ViewsMatter The Council values the views of its citizens and is seeking your opinion on theDraft Corporate Improvement Plan and the equality impact assessment of the draft Community Engagement and Involvement, Communications, andCustomer Service Strategies. Consultation on theDraft Corporate Improvement Planwill conclude on Wednesday 27April 2016, while the Equality Impact Assessments (eqias) on the corporate strategies will close on Friday 27 May 2016. All consultation documents are available in different formats upon request. You can obtain copies of any or all of the documents from the Townhall, Enniskillen, fromThe Grange inOmagh, or by: 1. Downloading it from the Council’s website at: www.fermanaghomagh. com/your-council/consultations 2. Telephoning the Council on: 0300 303 1777 3. Textphoning: 1 8001 0300 303 1777 4. Emailing : sonya.mcanulla@ fermanaghomagh.com (regarding the EQIAs) or ryan.tracey@ fermanaghomagh.com (regarding the Corporate Improvement Plan) The Council is happy to receive feedback by any of themeans above or, if you prefer to have ameeting inwhich to give your comments, wewill do our best tomeet your request. NewChains of Office for Chairman andVice-Chairman New jewels for the Chairman andVice- ChairmanChains of Office have been created. Both jewels are similar, featuring the Council crest surrounded by a celtic design and bearing the Council name and theword ‘Chairman’ or ‘Vice-Chairman’ in both English and Irish. The Chairman’s jewel has a purple background, while the Vice-Chairman’s jewel has a gold background. The chains of office onwhich the jewels hang are those used by the legacyOmaghDistrict Council, which have been re-gilded tomatch the jewels. The chains of office and jewels of the legacy FermanaghDistrict Council, and the jewels of the legacyOmaghDistrict Council will be icluded in a display of legacy Council artefacts in due course. Cllr ThomasO’Reilly Chairman BrendanHegarty Chief Executive Transferred Functions Additional powers and functions, including Planning, economic development, off- street parking and the general power of competence, transferred to the Council on 1 April 2015.Wewill provide an update on these in the next edition of this newsletter, after the completion of a full year of delivery.