A new doctors surgery to treat 16,000 patients could be opened within two years if plans are approved.

Cramped Mount Chambers Surgery in Coggeshall Road will triple in size and is set to become one of the largest in the district if they move into the new site behind Braintree Town Hall.

The move marks the end of a ten-year fight by doctors to move out of their ageing and crowded building.

Practice manager Peter Hadfield said that even if the plans do not go ahead, the NHS Essex Area Team have already approved a business case for expansion.

He said: “We have got approval for 1,100sq metres so if we don’t get planning permission here then we would just try and find another site in Braintree.

“If it does go ahead then we will be in in two years."

See this week's Braintree and Witham Times for the full story.