Plans to knock down a former horse riding school and replace it with a block of flats and several houses will be settled next week.

Shanly Homes wants to demolish Bucks Meadow Riding School, in Bucks Avenue, Bushey, to make way for 27 properties of various sizes, an open space and an “informal play area”, all served by a modified access route from Bucks Avenue and Sherwoods Road.

Of the 27 homes planned, there will be one one-bedroom and four two-bedroom apartments provided in a single block, plus 14 three-bedroom and eight four-bedroom detached and semi-detached houses.

In total, nine of the properties will be classed as “affordable dwellings”.

The riding school closed in September 2015.

This latest application is an amended version of a 24 property scheme approved by both Hertsmere and Watford councils earlier this year.

The site sits mainly within Hertsmere borough but borders on the Watford borough, hence the joint application.

A similar proposal to build 34 properties with a village green, pond and play area was rejected by Hertsmere Borough Council last year.

However planning officers have recommended that Watford Borough Council’s development management committee approve this latest application at its next meeting on Wednesday, September 6.