Worried residents living next door to land earmarked for a massive housing estate this week called for the building of a new access road.

The borough council is considering two plans to build more than 250 new homes on the former Fire Research Station site in Borehamwood.

But the plans do not include a new road and Melrose Avenue would provide the only access for vehicles travelling to and from the estate.

A petition urging the council to push for another access road for the proposed new estate has been signed by 80 people living nearby.

David Tilbury, who helped collect the petition, said: "There would be an enormous amount of traffic from the new estate.

"The only real way to solve the problem would be to build a road across the site where the school is."

Because Furzehill School will close this summer, residents have suggested using the site to create a link road for the planned estate.

The road would connect the fire research site to Furzehill Road and prevent all of the estate's traffic travelling down Melrose Avenue.

However, the county council, which owns the Furzehill School site, has expressed concern that the value of the site would be affected.

The county aims to sell part of the land for housing development and possibly build a new library or medical clinic there.

County Councillor Brian York said a new road would probably have to go where the council was looking to build the new community facilities.

"It might take away some of the value of the site and it might take away some of the communal open space there," he said.

He claimed that a further suggestion to build a link road to Station Road would result in more traffic congestion problems.

Mr York felt congestion at the roundabout at the top of Station Road would be made worse if the road was used by the estate traffic.

Some people living nearby also claim emergency vehicles could find it difficult to get to the proposed estate if it only has one access road.

One resident said: "From the safety point of view, it is a dangerous thing for an estate of that size to have only one access point."

Meanwhile, the county council has suggested asking the developer for £150,000 to pay for traffic-calming measures around the estate.

McLean Homes, which submitted the two plans, has proposed a roundabout at the top of Melrose Avenue and speed humps.

Mr York said the county council would consult residents on its proposals for the Furzehill School site later in the year.