A proposed new leisure and restaurant complex will transform Braintree town centre into a night-time destination for all the family, a council boss has insisted.

In an exclusive interview with the Times, Nicola Beach said the council hoped to revitalise the town centre’s nightlife with the plans to change the Victoria Street bus park into a development featuring restaurants, a gym, a GP surgery and a town square.

The scheme is expected to be up and running in 2017, despite the developer Henry Boot missing two deadlines to submit an application so far.

The council has now said that the financial details and designs of the scheme, which includes a new home for the town’s Mount Chambers GP surgery, will be completed by June and a planning application could be submitted towards the end of the year.

Ms Beach said: “We are very keen to have this nailed down as soon as possible. Henry Boot, Mount Chambers, the NHS and the council are all putting in a lot of time and effort to make sure this happens in a way that satisfies the parties and the taxpayer’s money.

“I appreciate for people not so closely involved, it all seems that it has gone a bit quiet, but there is a huge amount of conversations and detail being worked through.

“Henry Boot have put numerous designs back and forth to Mount Chambers and we speak to them on a weekly, if not twice weekly, basis."

See this week's Braintree and Witham Times for the full story.