Council bosses have approved £80,000 in funding for design work to begin on a new health centre.

Braintree Council will spend the cash on a business case for the scheme at the former Premdor Site in Sible Hedingham.

The new health centre, which will see the village’s two GP surgeries join together, forms part of a larger project which will also see 193 new homes and a business centre set up on land off Swan Street.

With funding now agreed for the design phase of the medical facility, council documents suggest planning submissions will be welcomed from as early as November, when an estimated figure of building costs will be put before councillors.

It is hoped planning permission can be granted by April 2019, however a lease for the new centre would need to be signed by GPs and a business case must be provided by the North Essex Clinical Commissioning Group before the scheme could progress further.

Speaking during a Braintree Council cabinet meeting, councillor David Bebb said: “We want to look at allocating about £80,000 to look at a business case for the Premdor Site for a medical facility which has got some real scope and I know some people will be very pleased its coming forward now.”

The £80,000 set aside for the design phase will come from the council’s New Homes Bonus pot, which sees the government hand out extra money to local authorities which have granted planning permission for new homes.

The land in which the health centre will be built on is owned by Bloor Homes which will transfer the site over to Braintree Council as part of a contribution towards healthcare in Sible Hedingham.

Bloor is also set to transfer Osier House, a building made up of eight offices, to the council in a bid to attract new businesses to the village.