A NEW development to transform a small town is in a state of limbo after developers revealed they had been unable to sell some of the 250 flats and town houses being built.

Work on the Waterside Marina, in Brightlingsea, to build flats, town houses, 20 ground-floor shops and a restaurant has slowed, as the developers, Hampstead Homes, struggle to find buyers.

Spokesman for the company, Philip Howden, said: “The project has slowed down but it hasn’t stopped. Rather than working on numerous buildings at once, we are working on a block by block basis.

“There are a couple of blocks nearly finished opposite the Yachtsman’s Arms, and then we will be moving on to another block.

“It is moving forward at a very much slower pace than it was before but things are jogging along, although not at the rate we would like.”

Des Rowson, chairman of the Bright-lingsea Business Association, said he hoped the situation would pick up.

He said: “The development has ground to a bit of a halt but if people think the whole thing will be finished in the next couple of months, they have got their head in the mud.

“The developers have done their best to alleviate the problem, by letting a lot of the properties to companies.

“The developers are in the same predicament as everyone else suffering from the slump.”

The development had attracted criticism from some people in Brightlingsea, who said it did not fit in with the Victorian surroundings of the seaside town.

But Alan Goggin, Tendring and Brightlingsea councillor, said: “The waterside is a real centrepiece. It is unfortunate you have to pass a building site to get there and, what is worse, empty shops too.

“When it’s finished, it will be a real asset.”