PLANS for a new medical centre in West Mersea have been revived after two neighbours offered land for it.

Farmer John Gray and his neighbour, named only as Mr Smith, both put forward plots in Colchester Road.

It is believed Health chiefs have settled on Mr Smith’s site, opposite Chatsworth Road.

Essex County Council’s highways department had voiced concerns at his neighbour’s proposal.

Mr Gray said he put his land forward after plans to build a centre on an unused school play area in Barfield Road were stalled when the Royal British Legion refused to sell a strip of land crucial to the development.

He said: “I knew something had to be done, so I made an offer. That’s all there was to it.

“I was happy to help.

“There are very few places in Mersea it could go.

“Mine has been refused but Mr Smith put in an offer and I think they have taken his.”

NHS North East Essex said although it recognised residents would have preferred to have a surgery in the town centre, it believes the new site would be suitable, even though it is outside the village envelope.

Richard Warner, chief executive of Realise Health, the company responsible for developing the new health centre on behalf of the primary care trust, said: “It is important we channel our resource and energy into one site to allow this project to move forward given the Government’s funding timetable.

“It has been decided, having taken everything into account, to develop and adapt the existing well-advanced internal layout plans on this alternative site in Colchester Road.

“It is of a size and configuration suitable for a new building to provide extended and improved health services for the Mersea Island community.

“There will be matters of access, landscaping and general environmental issues to address in the course of preparing  the extensive and detailed planning documentation, and this work will now be started in earnest with a view to submitting a planning application before the year’s end.

“We are extremely grateful for all the community support we have received and will use our maximum endeavours to meet the Government’s deadlines to deliver a scheme wholly consistent with NHS guidelines and community need.”