Hundreds of thousands of pounds of council money has been spent over nearly two decades protecting a former school site, a Freedom of Information request has revealed.
The site in question is Little Furze School in South Oxhey which shut down in 2004 and has been derelict since.
The land is owned by Hertfordshire County Council and the council intends to see the site developed into up to 70 homes and a care home.
A planning application submitted to Three Rivers District Council in 2021 revealed the county council wants to demolish the former school buildings at the "earliest opportunity" adding the site in Gosforth Lane suffers from "repeated trespassing".
As a result, the county council has had to fork out on 24 hour security for the site since its closure as well as pay for building repairs.
An article published in the Observer in December 2013 revealed the county council had spent £459,878 securing the site since its closure.
Following the latest application for the site, which received approval in October, the Observer submitted a request to Hertfordshire County Council for an updated figure on security costs.
The Freedom of Information response received by the Observer was: "We only hold information from 2012 onwards. The costs of securing the Little Furze site from 2012 to date are £380,763.66."
Due to an potential overlay in figures for 2012 and 2013, this suggests around £800,000 or near enough has been spent over 17 years since the school shut, indicating why the county council is now keen to redevelop the site as soon as possible.
The approved scheme, which will require further detailed planning consent is for up to 70 homes and a 75-bed care home.
As is stands, the proposal includes 22 houses of three or four beds, along with 48 flats in seven blocks, with 140 spaces across the development.
Eighteen of the 70 properties are set to be designated as affordable, including 70 per cent of those for social rent and 30 per cent for shared ownership, which does not meet the district council's policy that 45 per cent of a development is affordable.
However, vacant building credit, which was introduced by the Government to promote development on brownfield sites, has been used on the Little Furze site to lower the affordable housing contribution.
Related: Homes and care home planned for ex-school site suffering from 'trespassing'
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