The leader of Maldon District Council has spoken out about 20 years of broken promises regarding health facilities in the Maldon district.

Mark Durham claimed the council had little choice but to stop wasting time, resources and taxpayers’ money on discussions with health providers about a hospital or health hub which have gone nowhere.

Last week the Maldon and Burnham Standard exclusively revealed the council was withdrawing resources until an outline business case, with details of the location, facilities and timescale, of any new health hub were revealed.

This week he told the Standard: “It’s desperately frustrating, in that we have one day with a meeting suggesting progress is happening, only to have another one when we’re years back.

“They just don’t seem to be able to make any decisions.

“There are too many people involved, you have the CCG, the NHS and Provide, and all these people trying to get something across.

“At the last stakeholders meeting, I didn’t know whether to bang my head against the desk or walk over the room and bang their heads together.”

The leader stressed the council was committed to bringing in a new health hub for the town, but could not afford to devote more taxpayer funds until concrete progress is seen.

He added: “We have put thousands of member hours and officer time into this project in the last 20 years.

“It’s a corporate objective of ours to produce this healthcare project, but we cannot do it alone.

“We have literally told the CCG to go away, and when they have something sensible and sustainable to proceed with, then we will look at it.

“We can’t be on this merry-go-round forever, it is a gigantic waste of officer time and the taxpayers’ money.”

The CCG first promised a new hospital or a much modernised St Peter’s Hospital on Spital Road, but promises have been scaled back repeatedly until the hospital became a health hub.

Then the plan for any hospital beds were removed, however there was a suggestion last week this was being considered again and beds may be included.

The CCG was asked to respond to specific questions following last week's article.

On Thursday the Standard asked: “Where will the health hub be located in Maldon?

“What facilities will be on offer?

“When it will be up and running?

“When will the outline business case be completed?”

A spokesman for the Mid Essex Clinical Commissioning Group said: “Work on the outline business case for the Maldon Health Hub is based around two possible locations, either on the current St Peter’s Hospital site or at Wycke Hill.

“We expect facilities to include primary care provision and flexible inpatient and maternity beds.

“The outline business case should go to NHS England during the spring.

“We will be in a better position to offer a projected completion date for the hub following the more detailed planning work and review of construction required once funding is secured.

“We do understand local frustration but we want to make sure we give the people of Maldon and the surrounding area the right facilities for them.

“We will continue to work with patient representatives and other partners to achieve this.”

No timescale for any eventual, and much needed, facility which patients can access has been suggested.