A PRIMARY healthcare package worth £3million will be rolled out in Witham, after Lidl put in an offer for the Bramston Sports Centre site.

In March last year Braintree Council approved the disposal of part of the site to Persimmon Homes, for the construction of an office building.

Persimmon Homes then came back to the council seeking more land and different terms, which the council thought was not value for money.

Now the council has received two offers for separate areas of the site totalling £3,774,000.

A two-acre site is being sought after by supermarket Lidl, and Churchill Retirement Living are looking at a 1.1 acre site.

Council leader Graham Butland wants to use money from the sale of the Bridge Street site to help the NHS and local GPs deliver new medical facilities.

He said: “I want the best for residents in our district. We can’t just stand on the sidelines knowing that health facilities need to be better.

"We’ve got to put our money where our mouth is and I hope this encourages other partners to do the same. I want to use our financial position which comes as a result of prudent financial management to tackle some of the issues affecting our residents.

“We’re not a health provider and we don’t manage our congested main roads but we have land and through prudent financial management we have money which we want to invest in the district."

The planned move has been welcomed by Witham MP Priti Patel and the Mid Essex CCG who have been campaigning for better primary care in Witham.

James Cleverly, Braintree MP, called the move "an imaginative approach and a prudent use of taxpayers money".

Businesses and residents in Bridge Street said they would rather see something different that would draw people in.

Alan Hunt, manager at Bridge Street Motorcycles, said: "I guess it is better than building flats that people can't afford but we have so many supermarkets now it's crazy.

"I'm surprised they didn't just regenerate what was already there, we need something different, perhaps something beneficial for children in addition to the new sports centre, such as skating.

"We need something for everyone to do as it seems people have to go into Braintree to be able to do anything- we need to draw people in."

Ray Spencer, a resident of Bridge Street, said: "Personally I wouldn't really like it there because where we are traffic will just go in and out all the time.

"Because our house is really old the lorries that come through make the house shake at the best of times.

"I don't know why Lidl want to go there as they had a store in Witham before but it closed, so I'm not sure why they want a second bite."

Witham councillor Christopher Bailey said the prospect of improving healthcare in Witham is a positive thing, but details would need to be carefully considered.

He thought both a supermarket and retirement complex were needed in the town centre.

He said: "It makes a lot of sense- it's effective competition, it's a good location to do something and I don't see any difficulty with using the land for that sort of purpose."

He suggested the site should be temporarily used as a car park to ease parking pressures, but thought the whole idea would be part of a regeneration of the Newland Street area.

Lidl and Churchill Retirement Living were contacted but The Times had no response.

The move is the first issue to be tackled under the council's new £28million investment plan to improve the district.

It comes through a District Investment Strategy which, if agreed by Cabinet on May 23, could see the district council investing in issues which are not normally their responsibility.

Within Cabinet reports the council’s financial position statement for 2015/16 showed actual revenue is more than what was budgeted for.

The main reason is an over achievement of income of £1.533million, from planning application fees, additional council tax collected and Housing Benefit overpayments recovered.

The rest of the money will be used to improve town centres, new business, roads and infrastructure across the district.