Borehamwood pavilion set for £4.5 million redevelopment
£3.5m will be paid from funding from developers.
Hertsmere borough councillors have agreed to spend £4.5 million on redeveloping Aycliffe Pavilion in Borehamwood.
Funding to redevelop the pavilion, which has been empty since 2020 and subjected to vandalism and antisocial behaviour, was backed at a meeting yesterday (Wednesday, September 16) despite criticism from the Conservative opposition group.
£3.5 million of the funding will come from the council’s Community Infrastructure Levy pot, paid into by developers in the area, while the remaining £1m will be funded through external grants and money from the sale of the former Cannon pub.
The Labour leader of the council, Cllr Jeremy Newmark, said the new pavilion “will be a multipurpose community hub, not a changing room with a roof on it”.
His coalition colleague, Cllr Chris Shenton (LD), said that using the pavilion as a changing room for nearby football pitches was “no longer a good use of the building”.
“Demand from football teams for changing facilities is uncertain, and extending the use of the facility to make it a multi-purpose community asset will help secure future use and hence community value,” Cllr Shenton said.
A budget of £6 million had originally been earmarked for the project, but it has since been reduced to £4.5 million following further design and feasibility work.
£278,500 of the pot will be spent on “design development, planning and procurement”, including a feasibility study, surveys, and consultation costs.
The council is aiming to submit a planning application for the redevelopment in March next year, with work on site beginning in October 2027 and completed by March 2029.
But the authority’s Conservative opposition group criticised the spending plans, raising concerns that the “basic homework” of a feasibility study had not already been conducted and questioning whether potential users of the pavilion had been consulted.
Senior Tory Cllr Harvey Cohen said: “We support a facility in Aycliffe Park but we cannot support this proposal.
“I’m concerned there is a pattern with this administration: significant sums committed without the studies, the costings, evidence, or the transparency that members need to properly scrutinise decisions.
“This administration is saying ‘spend first, ask later’.”
In response, Cllr Newmark said that a meeting had been held with more than forty potential end users and that there had since been “extensive discussions” between those possible users and the council’s asset management team.
“We have vibrant competition of those groups … bashing on the doors of the council to be first in the queue to become end users and, in some cases, managers, of that building,” Cllr Newmark said.
The redevelopment plans were supported by the council’s Reform UK and Hertsmere First groups.
Reform UK’s group leader, Cllr Caroline Clapper, said: “Leaving a council-owned building vacant, deteriorating and vulnerable to vandalism and antisocial behaviour is neither good asset management nor good for the local community.
“I welcome the intention to bring this asset back into productive use as a modern and flexible community facility.”