As the local community is invited to share its views on a planned 23-storey apartment block, the company behind the project is urging residents and businesses to consider the “£90m ripple effect” the investment could have on the area.

Orion Cassiobridge’s planning application for a mixed-use scheme containing 485 homes – 170 of which will be affordable housing – a medical centre, and retail units on an Ascot Road brownfield site was submitted to Watford Borough Council on January 17.

READ MORE: 'We will look at this eyesore every day': Concerns over 23-storey block of flats

Orion chairman Richard Olsen said the development would provide substantial housing and a “tremendous boost” to the local economy while preserving precious green field sites elsewhere in the borough.

He said: “Watford is a very desirable place to live with jobs, excellent transport links and a strong identity and aspiration. The proposed scheme marks the first step towards the council’s ambitious masterplan for the Western Gateway, which includes Croxley View and Ascot Road.

“At 85m it is unmistakably a tall building and we have worked hard on a modern design, which is slender and well-articulated, that we believe will create an elegant arrival point for the new Cassiobridge quarter.

“We would like to reassure the local community that carefully-designed tall buildings need raise no concerns with crime, social isolation, safety or wellbeing. All our planning and design has focused on reinforcing the community’s sense of pride and ownership.

“We believe in the merits of the wider scheme – the cafés, restaurants, shops and a new medical centre on the new tree-lined boulevard leading to the proposed Cassiobridge Station, 4.4 acres of underutilised land brought back into public use, and over 700 new jobs, a minimum of 60 per cent of which will be for local people.

“The investment in construction alone will be £90m - a tremendous boost to the local economy.”

However Councillor Alison Wall, of neighbouring Three Rivers District Council, criticised Orion’s plans and said the development would adversely affect people living in Croxley Green who would have to look at the “massive skyscraper” every day.

In a letter to the Observer, she also said the development would put further pressure on an already crowded area and increase levels of air pollution.

A public consultation held last year highlighted residents’ concerns that the tower was too tall for Watford and did not fit in with the rural area.

Others expressed apprehension over the impact the development would have on parking and traffic - despite building 485 homes, only 220 parking spaces will be provided by the developers.

A final decision on the planning application is due to be made by the summer.