A new medical centre to serve thousands of Borehamwood residents is at last set to be built in Boulevard 25 after a year of uncertainty.

The proposal centre, which could cater for 10,000 patients, will be constructed if, as expected, the borough council grants planning permission.

Health officials believe the centre could help satisfy extra demand for doctors arising from the 174 new homes proposed for the nearby Furzehill and Hillside school sites.

It is anticipated that the purpose-built building, costing around £1m to build, will provide a dental surgery, GPs' consulting rooms, specialist clinics and a children's play area. Plans to move Borehamwood's Grove Road Surgery, an adapted house, to the Boulevard 25 shopping centre began in early 1999.

But they were put on hold when Boulevard 25 was sold, in July last year, to Hercules Property Ltd, by Great Portland Estates, which had supported the project.

Grove Road practice manager Karen Story confirmed this week that the new owners were supportive, and that architects were busy drawing-up plans.

She said: "We are all very excited and quite keen for it to get moving. We know it is going to be a good improvement for us and our patients.

"We are going to be a large surgery, and we are very aware of the school sites being developed these people need to be catered for and we are going to have the capacity to add to our lists."

The two-storey centre would be double the size of the present surgery, provide more services, take more than the existing 6,300 patients and employ more than the current four GPs.

It would be next to Allied Carpets, where planning permission was granted for it before, although some changes are being made to the original plans.

Hertsmere Primary Care Trust, which is responsible for developing health services in the borough, has already expressed concern about the extra house-building in Borehamwood.

Chair Beth Kelly said current health services in Borehamwood would not be sufficient to support the people who moved into the new homes.

Hertsmere's principal planning officer Richard Grove said: "The council is keen to see a replacement for Grove Road as soon as possible, and recognises the surgery is inadequate. The sooner the surgery is built the better."

Boulevard 25 manager Bernard Davy suggested that the adoption of the 'American-style' concept of mixing medical and shopping facilities would benefit many users of the shopping centre.

Patients would be attracted to the shops, the surgery would be easier to get to and people could take prescriptions from the surgery to chemists in nearby Shenley Road.

Hertsmere Primary Care Trust chairman, Beth Kelly, said current health services in Borehamwood would not be enough to support the extra people.