A major Hollywood blockbuster and a forthcoming prime-time television series are among the productions making use of a law giving new powers to close roads for filming.

The Hertfordshire County Council-backed Filming on the Highways Act, which became law in 2014, has allowed film and TV production companies to operate traffic management, such as temporary signals, at more than 20 locations in the past six months.

Stars including Robert Downey Junior, Samuel Jackson and Scarlett Johansson descended on the county when Marvel comic blockbuster Avengers: Age of Ultron used the law for the first time to close a public footpath in Rickmansworth last year.

This year, the anticipated Sky 1 comedy-drama Apocalypse Slough, used a variety of locations in the county, including Watford town centre and roads in St Albans, as backdrops for the days leading up to a comet colliding with Earth.

Other productions that have worked with the county council to arrange location filming in recent months include a top secret major Hollywood production in the Bovingdon area, BBC drama Dr Foster in Croxley Green and an advert for a luxury cosmetics brand in St Albans.

Last year, location filming by 79 productions brought £8.6m into the county with a single feature film worth up to £42,000 a day to the local economy.

David Williams, Cabinet Member for Enterprise, said: "I am delighted that Hertfordshire County Council’s Filming on the Highways Act has helped raise the profile of the county as a place that welcomes production companies.

"We worked hard to get this Act through Parliament, which makes Hertfordshire only the second local authority in the country to have powers to close roads for filming.

"Hertfordshire is already a very popular destination for the industry and it’s great to see that more production companies see us an appealing and convenient filming location.

"By attracting production companies to locations here, we’re seeing more investment in Hertfordshire for the benefit of local residents and businesses."

Back in March, councils in Hertfordshire signed a new Film Friendly Charter with Creative England which aimed to encourage more productions to film in the area - movie-making worth £8.6m a year to the local economy - and on Friday, August 21, The Treasury announces a new tax credit designed to boost the UK film industry.

It means that the rate of film tax relief will be increased to 25 per cent regardless of budget level.

Therefore, a British film costing £40m will receive an additional £1million towards productions costs from the change.

Since its introduction the film tax relief has supported £8billion of production expenditure, including films such as the Harry potter franchise which was filmed at Warner Bros. Studios in Leavesden.