Agreed in principle on 16 September, not yet signed: final terms for Boreham Wood FC's 50-year Meadow Park lease could return on 11 or 25 November.

Update, 5 October 2026: the Boreham Wood FC stadium lease has been agreed in principle but not granted. Cabinet recommended it on 9 September and full Council approved it unanimously on 16 September; the 50-year term, the rent and the boundary are still being negotiated. Hertsmere’s next ordinary Cabinet and Council meetings in November are on Wednesday 11 November and Wednesday 25 November, which is when the final terms could return. Nothing has been signed, the statutory newspaper notice has not appeared, and the club has started building its new South Stand before the paperwork is finished. Where the lease stands now has the detail.

Hertsmere Borough Council is being asked to hand Boreham Wood Football Club a single 50-year lease over the whole of its Meadow Park holding, replacing the two separate leases the club occupies under now. The recommendation went to Cabinet at the Civic Offices on Wednesday 9 September at 6pm.

Where the Boreham Wood FC stadium lease stands now

Step Date Status
Club writes asking for one 50-year lease 20 August 2026 Done
Cabinet recommends the principle to Council 9 September 2026 Done
Full Council approves the principle 16 September 2026 Done, unanimously
Officers negotiate term, rent and boundary From September 2026 Under way
Newspaper notice, two successive weeks, objections considered Before the lease is granted Not yet published
South Stand construction starts By 1 October 2026 Under way, per the club chairman
Final terms back to Cabinet and Council Expected November 2026 (Cabinet 11 Nov, Council 25 Nov are the next dates) Not yet on an agenda

Cabinet, 9 September. The printed decision records that Cabinet “recommended to Council that it approves the principle of a surrender of the existing Main Stadium Lease and Training Pitch Lease and the grant of a single replacement lease covering the whole operational holding”, including the land needed for the new stand’s infrastructure, “subject to agreement of detailed terms and the submission of a further report to Cabinet and Council for final approval”. Note what the resolution does not say: it does not fix the length. The 50 years comes from the recommended option in the officers’ report (Option 3B) and from the club’s own request.

Council, 16 September. The same wording went to full Council as report C/26/44, agenda item 12, with the club’s letter attached as Appendix A. According to the Local Democracy Reporting Service, councillors agreed it unanimously, with the Liberal Democrats, Conservatives, Reform UK and Hertsmere First all backing it. Council leader Jeremy Newmark, who holds the asset management portfolio, told the meeting that the club had “quite reasonably written to us asking for a single, consolidated 50-year lease”. The council’s own minutes of that meeting had not been published when we checked on 28 September.

What the club asked for. The letter, dated 20 August 2026 and signed by chairman Danny Hunter, asks for one lease covering the areas the club occupies “as well as the additional land needed for our major redevelopment project, which the Council is supporting through Community Infrastructure Levy funding”, and asks “the Council to grant the Club a new 50-year lease”. It also asks to talk through “the current subsidised lease arrangements, future rent levels and the next steps”.

Why some headlines say “granted”. Coverage of the Council vote described the club as having been granted a 50-year lease. It has not been, yet. Council agreed to negotiate one; a lease of more than seven years is a disposal under section 123 of the Local Government Act 1972, and because extra public open space is being folded in, it cannot be completed until the notice has run and objections have been considered.

Under the leases as they stand, the report puts the council’s rental position at about £19,000 a year if the existing rent reviews are implemented. Officers say a new arrangement has the potential to increase that. They also warn that one of the two leases runs a rent formula that could eventually charge the club more than the land is worth.

There is a step in this that residents can act on. Because Meadow Park was carved out of a wider public open space, and because more of that open space would be folded into the new lease, the council must advertise the deal in a local newspaper for two successive weeks and have regard to any objections before it can be granted.

Boreham Wood FC stadium lease: what happens next

Three things still have to happen before the club holds a new lease on Meadow Park.

  1. Officers and the club agree the terms. The length (50 years is the recommended option), the new rent and the exact boundary, including the land outside the current leases that the stand’s infrastructure needs. The valuation and subsidy control advice behind this are confidential.
  2. The council advertises the deal. Because public open space is being added, Hertsmere has to publish a notice in a local newspaper for two successive weeks and consider any objections. We found no such notice when we checked on 5 October 2026.
  3. Cabinet and full Council approve the final terms. The officers’ report anticipated November 2026. Hertsmere’s published calendar has Cabinet on Wednesday 11 November at 6pm and Council on Wednesday 25 November at 7pm, both at the Civic Offices. Agendas appear about a week before each meeting; the lease is not on either yet. The 14 October Cabinet agenda had not been published when we checked.

The stand is going up regardless. In his programme notes for the Altrincham home game on 3 October, chairman Danny Hunter wrote that “the South Stand and associated facilities have now started in earnest” and that, although he was “still waiting for the final CIL agreements with Elstree and Borehamwood Town Council and HBC to be signed off, out of necessity I have decided to start the project now”, so the build stays on schedule and on budget. That puts the construction ahead of both the Community Infrastructure Levy funding agreements and the lease that covers the land the stand’s equipment will sit on.

The minutes are not out yet. Hertsmere had not published the minutes of the 16 September Council meeting when we checked on 5 October 2026. The vote is recorded in the agenda papers and in Local Democracy Reporting Service coverage.

Two leases, and why they have to change anyway

Boreham Wood occupies Meadow Park under two agreements:

  • the Main Stadium Lease, dated 13 June 2019, running to June 2049
  • the Training Pitch Lease, which started on 1 August 2004 and expires in July 2029

The club is building a new stand at the ground. Planning permission for it was granted on 1 May 2026 under reference 25/1167/FUL, after the Planning Committee took the application on 19 March 2026. It covers the demolition of the existing spectator terracing, maintenance workshop, control room and turnstiles, and a new covered stand with toilets, turnstiles, control room and workshop, plus a relocated pitch irrigation tank and a new access off Brook Road car park.

The stand itself sits on land the club already leases. The infrastructure that has to support it does not. Officers say that equipment must be moved onto land reserved outside the current lease boundaries, so the leases have to be amended whichever way the council goes.

On 20 August 2026 the club formally asked the council to go further and consolidate everything into one lease. Its case, the report says, is that a single lease would give it certainty over its occupation, simplify the structure and support future investment.

Boreham Wood Football Club's two Meadow Park leases and the single lease proposed to replace them Timeline. The Training Pitch Lease runs from 1 August 2004 to July 2029. The Main Stadium Lease runs from 13 June 2019 to June 2049. The proposal is to surrender both and grant one 50-year lease covering the whole holding, with a start date not yet agreed. Two leases now, one for 50 years if Cabinet gets its way Officers recommend surrendering both existing leases and granting a single replacement over the whole holding. Training Pitch Lease, from 1 August 2004 expires July 2029 Main Stadium Lease, from 13 June 2019 June 2049 Proposed: one 50-year lease, start date not yet agreed 2004 2014 2024 2034 2044 2054 Source: Hertsmere Borough Council Cabinet report CAB/26/138, 9 September 2026. Graphic by The Borehamwood Post
The training pitch is the pressing problem: its lease runs out in under three years.

The rent formula officers want gone

The two leases price the land in fundamentally different ways, and the report is unusually blunt about one of them.

The Main Stadium Lease is reviewed every five years on open market rental value, and the report says it “expressly contemplates consideration of community benefit” when the rent is set. The Training Pitch Lease is not. It carries an upward-only review linked to RPI, compounding, with no regard to market rental value, affordability or community benefit.

Officers write that this mechanism “no longer represents a particularly effective or transparent basis for determining rent over the long term”, that keeping it is “likely to result in rental growth significantly in excess of market rent growth” and that it “could ultimately produce rental liabilities that are disproportionate to the value of the land being occupied”.

In other words, the council’s own advice is that the current formula is on course to overcharge the football club.

Five options, and the one they picked

The report sets out five ways forward and recommends the last of them:

  • Option 1: keep both leases as they are. The training ground lease then expires within three years.
  • Option 2A: keep both, extend the training pitch lease to match the stadium lease expiry of June 2049. The existing review mechanisms stay.
  • Option 2B: keep both, but grant new coterminous terms of 30 or 50 years. The RPI review is “potentially retained unless renegotiated”.
  • Option 3A: surrender both and grant one 30-year lease. The RPI review goes.
  • Option 3B, recommended: surrender both and grant one 50-year lease over the whole operational holding, with a new open market review mechanism.

The report is candid about the trade. Against Option 3B it lists the disadvantage to the club as a “higher initial rent than current payments”, and the disadvantage to the council as the “longest commitment of Council asset”. Against Option 1 it records the council’s rental position as about £19,000 a year if the reviews are implemented.

The valuation itself is not public. Independent advice from Wilks Head & Eve and subsidy control advice from the law firm Anthony Collins both sit in an exempt Part 2 report, on the grounds that publishing them could prejudice the council’s position in a live negotiation.

Public open space, and your right to object

This is the part that gives residents a say.

Granting a lease of more than seven years counts as a disposal under section 123 of the Local Government Act 1972, which requires the council to get the best price reasonably obtainable. It can go below that only with the Secretary of State’s consent, or under the General Disposal Consent (England) 2003, which allows an undervalue of up to £2 million where the disposal promotes economic, social or environmental well-being in the borough.

Separately, because Meadow Park was carved out of a wider public open space and further parts of that open space would be brought into the new lease, the council says it “will also be necessary to advertise the proposed surrender and re-grant of an extended lease to BWFC for two successive weeks in a newspaper circulating in the locality”. It must then “have regard” to any objections received before the lease can be granted.

No advertisement has been published yet. It cannot be, because the terms have not been agreed.

What it means for you

  • Nothing was settled on 9 or 16 September. Cabinet and Council approved the principle only, and let officers negotiate. Any final deal comes back to Cabinet and Council, which the report anticipates in November 2026.
  • Cabinet recommends, Council decides. Council approved the principle on 16 September. The next ordinary meetings are Cabinet on 11 November and Council on 25 November; check the agendas a week before each for the final lease report.
  • If you want to object, watch for the newspaper notice. That statutory advertisement, running two weeks, is the formal window. Objections have to be considered before the lease can be completed.
  • The football continues either way. Boreham Wood top the National League with 32 points from 12 games (10 wins, 2 draws, no defeats) after beating Altrincham 3-1 at Meadow Park on 3 October. The next home game is on Tuesday 20 October at 7pm, according to the club’s website.
  • Match day parking is the council’s, not the club’s. Brook Road car park, which the new stand takes an access off, is one of Hertsmere’s 14 council car parks. Charges and tariffs are on our parking page.

Frequently asked questions

Has Boreham Wood FC got a new stadium lease?

Not yet. Hertsmere’s Cabinet (9 September 2026) and full Council (16 September 2026) approved the principle of replacing the club’s two Meadow Park leases with one lease over the whole site. The term, rent and boundary are still being negotiated, and the final deal has to return to Cabinet and Council, expected in November 2026. The next ordinary Cabinet and Council meetings are on 11 and 25 November 2026.

When will the Boreham Wood FC stadium lease be signed?

No date is set. The terms have to be agreed, the open space notice has to run for two weeks with objections considered, and Cabinet and Council have to approve the final report. The council’s report expected that to come back in November 2026; it was not on any published agenda on 5 October 2026.

Has work started on the new South Stand?

Yes. Chairman Danny Hunter wrote in the club’s programme notes for the 3 October home game that the South Stand works “have now started in earnest”, even though the Community Infrastructure Levy funding agreements with the town council and Hertsmere had not been signed off. Planning permission, 25/1167/FUL, was granted on 1 May 2026.

How long is the proposed Meadow Park lease?

50 years is the recommended option and the length the club asked for in its letter of 20 August 2026. The resolutions passed in September approve a single replacement lease “subject to agreement of detailed terms”, so the length is only fixed when the final report is approved.

When do the current Boreham Wood FC leases expire?

The Main Stadium Lease, dated 13 June 2019, runs to June 2049. The Training Pitch Lease started on 1 August 2004 and expires in July 2029.

Can residents object to the Boreham Wood FC lease?

Yes. Because part of a public open space is involved, Hertsmere must advertise the surrender and regrant in a local newspaper for two successive weeks and have regard to objections before the lease can be granted. That notice had not been published as of 28 September 2026.

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