When will we get our money back from our investment in Elstree Studios?

That was borough Conservatives cry at a meeting of the full council on Wednesday last week?

Tory leader Stuart Nagler said: "Will any of us be around when we start getting our money back?"

He accused the Labour-led council of "excessive and extravagant" spending on the Elstree Way studios.

Everyone supported saving the studios from the developers in 1986, he said, but not the spending since.

"That is why there is now no budget for highways maintenance and a freeze on the capital budget," he said.

Council leader Bryan Stanley said of the £10million had been spent developing the studios, £6.3million would be paid back in the near future.

"So our net outlay will be £3million, including the £2million we paid for it," he said.

Mr Stanley said the council was receiving £157,300 a year in rents from studio tenants and that figure was set to increase.

The burgeonings studios are stimulating the local economy, he continued, and that was shown in the fact that Shenley Road was "beginning to thrive again."

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