New £700,000 offices will continue to remain empty despite growing interest from businesses.

A Braintree Council document states the authority has been contacted by four prospective tenants all hoping to rent out office space in Osier House, Sible Hedingham.

The building forms part of a new 193 home development in the village and construction work on the offices was completed by Bloor Homes back in January.

It was agreed Bloor would transfer ownership of the building to the council, who in turn would rent out the offices to businesses.

However, the transfer has not yet happened meaning the new business centre, hailed a "significant investment in the financial infrastructure of Sible Hedingham" has now been empty for 10 months.

A spokesman for the council said: "There is a legal title issue that Bloor Homes has to resolve before the transfer of Osier House can be completed.

"When this will be resolved is unknown at this stage as we do not have any control over the process, however we are closely monitoring the progress and in the meantime continuing to attract interest from local businesses for the units."

When contacted by the Gazette about the delay back in May, Bloor Homes stated everything was in place for the transfer to be completed.

But five months on, the developer still remains the owner of the empty offices.

A spokesman said: "Bloor Homes can confirm that we are very keen for Braintree District Council to take ownership of Osier House in Sible Hedingham.

"We are confident that any outstanding issues will be resolved in the next few weeks so that it can be transferred."