THE UNCERTAINTY surrounding the future of the new Ongar War Memorial Medical Centre has been branded "ridiculous" and a "disaster" by residents.

It has emerged the new £6.7m medical facility, in Fyfield Road, could stand empty when it is completed next year.

As revealed in the Gazette last week, both Ongar health surgeries have expressed significant concerns regarding the financial viability of the move to the new facility and there are doubts surrounding the relocation of other community health services.

The new medical centre was also set to incorporate a roll of honour dedicated to the men from Ongar and the surrounding area who died during the Great War.

However, with the possibility of the medical centre standing empty, the man behind the memorial project has expressed concern that it may have to be located elsewhere if there is not the footfall to justify it being at the medical centre.

Derek Berwin, 78, has spent three hours a day, four days a week compiling and researching a list of names to go on the roll of honour since October.

"I would like it to be at the health centre but if there is a problem I have got to ensure it goes somewhere else," said Mr Berwin, who has identified a possible alternative site next to Ongar Library.

"A roll of honour should be seen by a lot of people. I have to think of a fail-safe plan. I don't want to spend the money to put it up there and find there will be no throughput," added Mr Berwin.

Funds for the project were raised by the Ongar and District War Memorial Hospital Fund.

"I am absolutely devastated," said Fyfield resident Doug Kelly, a trustee of the group who is anxious about the effect on local healthcare if the centre does not open.

"People in the villages around Ongar tend to be elderly and they are going to find it extremely difficult to get medical services if they have to keep travelling to Harlow or Epping where the buses are few and far between. I am very worried about this."

A spokesman for NHS West Essex said there will still be a memorial outside the new medical centre, but the location of the roll of honour is yet to be finalised.

The spokesman said: "NHS West Essex has always said the new medical centre will feature a war memorial.

"The war memorial wall will be in Irish blue limestone on the front of the building with retractable hooks for the hanging of Remembrance wreaths."

The memorial will also feature three inscriptions.

The spokesman added: "In a separate project, which does not involve the PCT, research work is being carried out on a roll of honour to be displayed inside the new medical centre.

"Until the research is complete, the number of names to be included is finalised, and the size and design of the roll of honour is confirmed to the PCT, we are unable to say where in the building this will be located."