Hundreds of new flats and houses could soon be built in Bushey after it was confirmed that dozens of Ministry of Defence (MoD) owned homes in the area will be sold off.

A number of the large, detached MoD houses, in Harcourt Road, Turner Road and Sutcliffe Close are empty and many are now inhabitable, after vandals targeted the buildings.

Many of the empty homes now have smashed windows and are boarded up, while others are falling into a general state of disrepair with crumbling brickwork.

And Defence Estates, the company that manages all MoD accommodation, this week confirmed plans are in place to sell a number of the homes, possibly next year.

It is likely that the houses will be sold off together and to one developer, rather than on an individual basis.

And with the current houses in such a poor state, any would-be-developer could decide to rip down the existing buildings and replace them with new houses, or blocks of flats.

An MoD statement, released this week, confirmed a "disposal programme" was currently being formulated.

The statement read: "The future plans for the houses has now been resolved and a disposal programme is being developed for some service family accommodation in the area.

"This will lead to the remainder of the properties being fully occupied and will hopefully solve the current problems being experienced."

The houses were to provide accommodation to the families of people serving in the armed forces.

Former MoD-owned flats, in nearby Girtin Road, Munro Road and Gulland Close, have already been sold off for redevelopment, with 200 flats and 50 houses set to be built on the site.

Other MoD houses, in Mostyn Road, Geddes Road, and some in Harcourt and Sutcliffe Close, are occupied and are likely to be retained.

The statement said the run-down houses had been kept because of the build up of military facilities in Northwood, adding "it has been necessary to hold higher than usual numbers of stock during this time".