Cabinet is asked on 14 October to spend £140,000 of levy money on a fenced route from Brook Road to the stadium, and warns the cafe and car park will need more cash.
Hertsmere Borough Council wants to spend £140,000 of developer levy money on a fenced spectator pathway from Brook Road to Meadow Park Stadium. The money is not in the park’s budget, and officers want to hand the job straight to Boreham Wood Football Club’s builder without a tender.
The request goes to Cabinet on Wednesday 14 October and then to full council, in a report from the council’s streetscene department. The same report warns that the cafe, public toilets and remodelled Brook Road car park approved in August will cost more than the budget set in 2019, and that a further funding bid will come to council in January 2027.
Why a pathway, and why now
The pathway is a segregated route for match-day crowds, separated from the remodelled car park by a palisade fence and from neighbouring homes by a wall. A lower retaining wall is needed because the land slopes. It came out of last summer’s master-planning consultation, which the report says introduced the requirement, so it was never in the original specification or budget.
The timing is driven by the football club. Boreham Wood FC started building work on 28 September and needs to finish before the 2027 season. The council’s report sets out who does what and when:
| Work | Who | Starts |
|---|---|---|
| Enabling works | Boreham Wood FC | Complete |
| Construction access | Boreham Wood FC | 28 September 2026 |
| Changing rooms | Boreham Wood FC | October 2026 |
| Spectator pathway | Council | December 2026 |
| South Stand | Boreham Wood FC | January 2027 |
| Cafe and toilets | Council | March 2027 |
| Car park, part one | Council | June 2027 |
| Car park, part two | Council | October 2027 |
Officers say a normal tender for the path would delay the club’s project, and that two contractors working side by side on one site would be inefficient. They want to ask the club’s existing contractor for a price instead. That needs the Head of Procurement and the Assistant Director of Legal and Democratic Services to waive the council’s own contract rules for cases “where there is only one supplier and no acceptable alternative”.
Where the money stands
The council set a capital budget of £1.35 million for Meadow Park Phase 2 in 2022/23. It was made up of:
- £650,000 from the car park reserve
- £530,000 from the Community Infrastructure Levy, the charge developers pay on new building
- £170,000 from section 106 agreements with developers
A further £95,000 from Big Local lifted the total to £1.45 million. The report says £800,000 has been spent, leaving £645,000, and that known commitments reduce the usable balance to £528,000.
The £140,000 for the pathway would come from the council’s CIL pot on top of that. We reported last month that the levy pot is nearly all committed, with £3.5 million earmarked for the Aycliffe Pavilion and bidding closed.
The cafe and car park will cost more
The sports courts, splash park and BMX track were all delivered within their original estimates. The two remaining pieces were not, because they were delayed. A planning application for the car park and cafe was submitted in April 2022, then withdrawn after an objection from the football club. Talks at officer level failed to resolve it, and in November 2024 councillors set up a steering group and hired new architects, HTP, to produce one masterplan for the park, car park and stadium.
The council’s revised scheme, with a cafe, public toilets and 67 more parking spaces, went to the planning committee in August and was granted on 20 August 2026, the report says.
The report blames the delay for the cost rise. It cites the Building Cost Information Service estimate that building costs have risen 38% since 2019, and says some materials rose 40% in 2020 alone. Quantity surveyors are reviewing the cafe and car park estimates now, and officers say a bid for the extra money will go to full council in January 2027.
What it means for you
- If you go to Boreham Wood FC matches, the fenced route from Brook Road is due to be built from December, before the new South Stand goes up in January.
- If you use the Brook Road car park, the remodelling is now split into two parts, starting in June and October 2027. The council says it will extend the current layout so the club and the nursery can still be served in the meantime.
- If you were waiting for the cafe and toilets, the start date in the report is March 2027, but the money to build them has not yet been agreed.
- If you want to speak, Cabinet meets at 6pm on Wednesday 14 October at the Civic Offices, Elstree Way, Borehamwood WD6 1WA. Non-cabinet councillors can speak for three minutes on any item, and the agenda is online.
The club’s 50-year lease on the ground was agreed in principle in September and still needs its final terms approved. Parking in Borehamwood has the current charges for the council’s car parks.
Sources
- Hertsmere Borough Council, Meadow Park Phase 2 update, report CAB/26/146, for Cabinet on 14 October 2026, for every figure, date and quotation above.
- Cabinet agenda, 14 October 2026, including the approved site plan at Appendix 1.
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