Bennetts End Surgery’s unofficial car park is still the council’s land

Bennetts End Surgery sits on Gatecroft, HP3 9LY. Behind it is a patch of ground that used to be tennis courts. Patients have parked there for years. It is not, the practice says, an official car park.

The surgery’s own notice is still the clearest public statement. The land is Dacorum Borough Council’s. The surface has been in a poor state of repair. The council has put up a sign that you park at your own risk. The side access must be left clear for emergencies. Patients are told to allow extra time, or to find somewhere else. That is not colour from a reporter. It is what the practice published for the people who actually try to attend an appointment.

In a March 2025 Bennetts End ward update, councillors told residents the overflow park would be refurbished in the 2025 school summer holidays as part of a wider Coronation Fields project, and that they would put the ward’s Community Infrastructure Levy toward it. They asked neighbouring wards whose patients use the surgery to contribute. A public meeting was trailed. That document is a year and a half old. It is still the last detailed official commitment this desk can put on the page.

As of 28 August 2026 the borough newsroom is carrying dog washes, Green Flags and a meal-planning partnership. It is not carrying a works start for Gatecroft. If contractors are on the ground this week, that is a fact the council and the ward members can put in writing. We will update this story when they do. Civic reporting is not a press release on day one and silence until the ribbon. It is checking whether the car park patients were told to avoid is actually being rebuilt.

Until then the practical advice is the surgery’s: do not treat the rear ground as a finished park, do not block the emergency access, and leave time to park on the surrounding streets. If you have a works notice, a photo of the site this week, or a date from the ward, send it to news@dacorumdaily.co.uk.