FERMANAGH and South Tyrone candidates in the forthcoming Westminster elections were briefed on Friday about an ambitious flagship project to bring the communities of Kesh and Ederney closer together.

The North Fermanagh Valley Park project has now been whittled down to one of six applications, all vying for Space and Place funding to transform their areas.

Four of the six will each receive £1 million.

Although quietly confident, spearheads for the local project Mervyn Duncan from Kesh and Sean Donnelly from Ederney were keen in their presentation to candidates on Friday to drive home the message that no funding had been secured as yet.

They added however, that this application was only one aspect of their aspirations for the area.

They explained that, if successful, the Space and Place funding to develop one park across two sites would be a mere “stepping stone” for bigger and better things for the two communities.

With plans to develop the community, tourism, enterprise and employment, Mr. Donnelly told the briefing: “We don’t want just £10,000 or £20,000, we want millions.

“If we are successful with this project, it means we could apply for EU funding.

“But we need leadership -- someone employed full-time to steer this all forward.” The project brought forward by the communities of Kesh and Ederney, along with Fermanagh District Council, proposes to develop two sites, one at Drumkeen, Ederney and the other at the Duke of Westminster site, Kesh.

Originally these groups had put in two separate large applications to Space and Place but following advice from the Space and Place team, came back in together for a flagship project.

Their application outlines the development of a major recreational and environmental park across the two villages of, the predominantly Catholic, Ederney and, the predominantly Protestant, Kesh in order to create shared space through sport, education and recreation.

The Ederney site will feature an adventure trail, town pet farm, community allotments, festival square, and a community gym, whereas the Kesh site will have a mountain bike pump track, community green, running/walking track, MUGA (multi-use games area) and tennis courts. Both sites will have planting schemes, shelters, educational facilities and story boards linking both sites.

They are up against projects in Cookstown, Londonderry, Strabane and Belfast.

Acknowledging the project’s unique position in having Fermanagh District Council as a joint partner, Neville Armstrong said support for the proposals thus far had been “phenomenal”.

“The level of consultation required for this project and the level of questioning required was extraordinary,” he said.

“We were very lucky to have the support of a statutory body behind us.” The Kesh man said rural communities like Kesh and Ederney were often forgotten about.

“Many seem to find it hard to believe that even in rural communities here in the West, two places can live cheek by jowl beside each other and actually have nothing to do with each other,” he said.

“We want to create a shared community space -- because the economic reality is such that this notion that we have to have two of everything cannot be allowed to continue.” Mr. Armstrong said the project was committed to making people see North Fermanagh as a “gateway” into the county.

“There is phenomenal potential in this area -- in terms of tourism, it’s not all about fishing.

“We hope to create a strong and resilient community here where the destiny of North Fermanagh lies in the hands of the people from North Fermanagh.” According to Mr. Duncan, there is a commitment to continue with a number of the proposed projects regardless of whether they are successful with securing the funding.

“We won’t know until June whether we have been successful or not,” Mr. Duncan pressed home on Friday.

“But even if there is no funding at the end of this, we will continue as a joint community.

“To bring two communities together is an awful lot of work.

“To get those two groups, with different states of mind, on the same page -- that is difficult. But we are there and everybody has signed into it, from all persuasions,” he added.