Contents Pages

P a g e | 1 AREA PROFILE CONTENTS PAGES Page 3 What is ‘Big Local’ and who is ‘Leecliffe’? Page 4 Where is the Leecliffe Big Local Area? Pages 4-5 History of Borehamwood Pages 5-7 Maps of Borehamwood and Leecliffe Big Local Boundary Pages 8-13 The Leecliffe Big Local Area – By The Numbers Page 8 – Population Page 9 – Ethnicity & Religion Pages 10-11 – Housing Page 11 – Lone Parent Families Page 12 – Income Page 12 – Employment Page 12 – Employment by Industry Page 13 – Unemployment Page 13 – Disability & Care Pages 13-14 – Health & Lifestyle Page 14 – Deprivation Page 15 – Schools & Education Page 26 – Crime Pages 17-35 What Community Assets Does the Leecliffe Big Local Area Have At Its Disposal? Pages 17-18 - Green Spaces Page 17 - Aberford Park Page 18 - Meadow Park Pages 19-31 – Community Assets Page 19 – Aberford Park Community Centre Pages 20-21 – Allum Manor House & Hall Page 22 – Fairway Hall Page 23 – Farriers Hall Community Centre Page 24 –Maxwell Park Community Centre Page 25 – Organ Hall Community Centre Page 26 – Three Ways Community Centre Page 27 – Windsor Hall Page 28 – Citizens Advice Page 29 – (The) Borehamwood & Elstree Children’s Centre (BECC) Page 30 – The Community Shop (Leeming Road) Page 31 – Denbigh Lodge (7th Borehamwood Scout Hut) Page 32 – The Ark Theatre Page 33 – 96 Shenley Road Leecliffe Big Local - Profile P a g e | 2 Page 34 – (The) Jewish Life Centre Page 35 – Other Community Assets & Religious Partners Pages 36-42 Community, Charity & Voluntary Organistaions Page 36 – Communities 1st Pages 36-37 – Carers in Hertfordshire Page 37 – Crossroads Care Pages 37-38 – Borehamwood Foodbank Page 38 – Gratitude Pages 38-40 – Guideposts Trust (@ ‘Number 10 Leeming Road’) Page 40 – Hospital & Community Navigation Service (@ ‘Number 10 Leeming Road’) Pages 40-41 – Livability Page 41 – MIND Pages 41-42 – The Royal British Legion Page 42 – The Society of St. Vincent de Paul Pages 43-44 Civic Buildings & History Page 43 – Hertsmere Civic Offices (Hertsmere Borough Council) Page 44 – Elstree & Borehamwood Town Council Page 45 Local Media Page 45 – Borehamwood & Elstree Times Page 45 – Elstree & Borehamwood Town Crier Pages 46-54 Employers & High Street Pages 46-47 – Elstree Studios Page 47 – Tesco Extra Page 48 – Cardif Pinnacle Page 48 – The Venue Leisure centre Page 49 – Boulevard 25 Retail Park Page 50 – Imperial Place Pages 51-54 – Borehamwood High Street – ‘The Village’ Pages 55-60 Local Entertainment Page 55 – ‘Reel Cinema’ & ‘Gala Bingo’ Page 55 – 96 Shenley Road Page 56 – Jump-In Trampoline Park Pages 56-57 – Boreham Wood Football Club Pages 57-58 – Boreham Wood Football Club – P.A.S.E. Academy Page 58 – Boreham Wood Football Club – Astro-Turf Hire Page 58 – Boreham Wood Football Club – Function Room Hire Page 59 – ‘The Venue’ Leisure Centre Pages 59-60 – Public Houses Pages 61-63 Transport Links Page 61 – Road (by Car) Pages 61-62 – Rail (Elstree & Borehamwood Station) Page 63 – Bus Services (Transport for London) Page 63 – Bus Services (Hertfordshire) Page 64 Welcome to Leecliffe Big Local…. Welcome to Borehamwood! Leecliffe Big Local - Profile P a g e | 3 WHAT IS BIG LOCAL AND WHO IS ‘LEECLIFFE’? In 2010 the National Lottery decided to invest in communities that had little community activity. Predominantly, they were also areas which had historically not applied for much in the way of National Lottery funding. These areas were to be designated ‘Big Local’ areas, whilst also happening to contain some of the highest pockets of depravation in the country. Borehamwood - and in principal the Leeming and Aycliffe road areas therein - was identified, and designated as being, one such ‘Big Local’ area; and subsequently awarded £1,000,000 by the National Lottery ‘Big Local’ fund to be spent geographically between 2010 and 2026. In order to facilitate this funding, a Partnership Committee called the ‘Leecliffe Big Local (Partnership)’ - a name derived from a combination of the names of Leeming Road and Aycliffe Road - was set up in 2012. The partnership board initially comprised 18 volunteers – this now numbers 10 – and is still made up of people who live, work or have an association with the Borehamwood area. When constituted, the Leecliffe Big Local Partnership board was founded on the following principals. In 2013, based on the thoughts and ideas of members of our community, and with the aim of looking to make their area a better place in which to live, we (Leecliffe Big Local partnership) created our first ‘Community Plan’. In 2016, a second consultation with local residents in our Big Local Area was undertaken to generate and even deeper understanding of how what we had previously done, and what new opportunities had presented themselves, might help us continue to ‘improve the lives’ of the people in our area. This consultation laid the grounds for our second “Community Plan (2016- 2018). In 2018 we undertook our third community-wide consultation in preparation for our third and latest “Community Plan”. As with our previous consultations – undertaken with residents, partners and community organisations - this allowed us to see what had changed in our community and how we could continue to meet our aim of ‘improving the lives’ of our residents. Data gathered from our third consultation was used to form the basis of our 2019-21 Community Plan which we submitted to Local Trust in January 2019. Leecliffe Big Local - Profile P a g e | 4 WHERE IS THE ‘LEECLIFFE BIG LOCAL’ AREA? Leecliffe Big Local covers the North of the town of Borehamwood, situated in the county of Hertfordshire. When first set up, the Leecliffe Big Local Area encompassed most – but not all of – Borehamwood’s ‘northern’ electoral wards: ‘Brookmeadow’ and ‘Cowley Hill’. Within Brookmeadow ward are the streets of Leeming Road and Aycliffe Road, after whom Leecliffe Big Local was named. Leecliffe Big Local’s first premises, ‘The Community Shop’, stills stands on the former street. However, Leecliffe Big Local increasingly came to feel that their original boundary restricted their potential outreach, and that the success of its projects would also benefit from, and require commitments from, outside the original boundary. It was also felt that the original boundary further and unnecessarily divided Borehamwood. So, in 2018, Leecliffe Big Local’s boundaries were redrawn. The result being that the ‘Leecliffe Big Local Area’ currently encompasses all of the Brookmeadow and Cowley Hill electoral wards in Borehamwood; covering the whole of the north of the town. HISTORY OF BOREHAMWOOD Though not named as such, Borehamwood is ‘split’ into North and South by its central high street: Shenley Road. Historically a ‘wood for the feeding of swine’ (boars) situated on monastery lands called ‘Elstree’, later a hamlet within a parish of the same name, whose principal village of the same name now neighbours Borehamwood, Borehamwood grew steadily to a village after its neighbour, Elstree, became a stop on the Midland Railway in 1868 and Borehamwood gained its ‘independence’ from the parish of Elstree in 1909. Since the 1920s Elstree & Borehamwood have shared a name on the board of the same station, as well as the station itself. However, the coming of the railway did not immediately cause Borehamwood’s population to increase substantially. By the time of Queen Victoria’s death in 1901, Borehamwood’s population stood at just 1,323. At the last census, it stood at c. 32,000. Post First World War, and up to the present day, Borehamwood has most famously been home to multiple film and television studios. Around whom the town first built its primary industry and its reputation. Many well-known films including The Dam Busters (1955), the original Star Wars trilogy (1977-1981), Moby Dick (1956), Summer Holiday (1963), Dr Zhivago (1965)', 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) and The Shining (1980), and some of the Indiana Jones films were filmed at the former Associated British Studios in Shenley Road. These were partly demolished in the 1980s to make way for a supermarket and office blocks. Though now reduced to an area that no longer serves the production of feature films, the resulting ‘Elstree Film & Television Studios’ has, and still does, provide facilities for post-production film work and the filming of television series for both the BBC and commercial television. Borehamwood was once also the location of the British National Studios (located in Clarendon Road). Known locally as "The Douglas Fairbanks studios", the site is now home to the ‘BBC Elstree Studios’. These studios have, over the years, seen the filming of multiple television series – but are currently most commonly associated with the production of the BBC’s long-running soap ‘EastEnders’ (whose famous ‘Albert Square’ stands in the backlot) and medical drama ‘Holby City’. Borehamwood was once also home to film studios including The Gate Studio and the MGM-British Studios complex (demolished in the early 1970s) which saw the production of films such as 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968), Where Eagles Dare (1968) and Goodbye, Mr. Chips (1969) and many ITV television series including The Prisoner (1967–68). Though the film and television production industry remains one of Borehamwood’s biggest employers, with increasingly better and more frequent transport links (both road, bus and rail) into northern and central London having been added to Borehamwood, in latter decades the town has become both an Leecliffe Big Local - Profile P a g e | 5 area popular with those who cannot afford to live closer to the capital and, consequently, an ever greater commuter town (on the now ‘Thameslink’ railway) for those who work both in London and Borehamwood. Despite an increasing population and land set over for housing, Borehamwood still has many green spaces; including Aberford Park, Brookmeadow Park, Meadow Park, Ripon Park and Thirskcliffe Nature Park.

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