PLANS to build a new health centre in Wickford have been postponed due to bureaucratic red tape.

The news emerged this week, when NHS South West Essex, the trust which runs healthcare services in the town, revealed that it no longer controlled the purse strings for the £12 million project earmarked for Wickford market.

Bosses at the trust have lodged the cash that was earmarked for this project with NHS East of England, the body responsible for overseeing healthcare in Essex.

The cash can only be used on capital projects, such as buildings. However, under NHS rules, it must be spent in the financial year in which it was raised.

This means that the cash, which was raised by the sale of Highwood Hospital in Brentwood, would need to be spent by March 31 next year.

But with all of the trust's building projects on hold as it grapples with a £52 million budget deficit, it is now certain that work on the new health centre – which would replace the existing facility in Market Road – will not go ahead before then, leaving the trust in a funding crisis should the plans be resurrected in the future.

Andrew Pike, the chief executive of NHS South West Essex, said the trust was in the process of reviewing its estate, together with those projects it had already planned.

The review is set to be completed next month.

Mr Pike said: "As part of the financial recovery plan, we need to determine the NHS's ability to fund some of the new buildings that have been proposed, like Wickford health centre. We need to make sure that new estates are, in the long term, affordable and in the right place.

"While the review is under way, we cannot progress with the current timetable for the Wickford health centre project.

"If, after the review, the board gives the go ahead for Wickford, we will look at all of the funding options available to us."

He added: "At this present time we would like to see new building proposals proceed, but can't guarantee it will happen."

Wickford's MP Mark Francois said he was "disappointed" at the delay.