With a rapidly-expanding population and rising house prices Borehamwood is clearly a town on the move. But where is it heading?

More and more wealthy buyers are snapping up properties in the town, where it is possible to buy a family home for the price of a flat in north London suburbs such as Finchley or Mill Hill.

Meanwhile, older residents are leaving in droves, complaining that crime and disorder are spiralling out of control, and the sense of community they once enjoyed has gone.

And it seems that the gap between the rich and poor is widening.

Properties at the Bowood Court development in Theobald Street are selling for up to £685,000, while dilapidated council flats in downtrodden Leeming Road have been left empty for years because no-one wants to move in.

Yet at the same time there is a critical shortage of housing for so-called key workers', such as police officers and nurses.

Last week, Hertsmere Council was told to build 4,000 new homes by 2021 210 a year, which will undoubtedly have a big impact on the town.

Plans are already underway for 700 new homes in Borehamwood, on the former Fire Research Station, the three vacant schools and at the Gate Studios sites. Around a third will be designated affordable housing' and allocated to key workers, but most of them will be sold privatly to the highest bidders.

Stephen Simmons, a partner at Simmons Estates in Shenley Road, said the number of people wanting to buy quality properties in Borehamwood was increasing.

"We have had a lot of people moving into the area from Edgware, and the Jewish community is expanding considerably," he said. "I think the prices are being dragged up by the new neighbourhoods being built, but it remains comparatively cheap compared to neighbouring areas."

An influx of middle-class' buyers can sometimes lead to an area becoming gentrified, as happened to Notting Hill in the 1980s, with quality shops and cafs opening to cater for the wealthy new population.

The problem is that once this happens, the working classes are forced to move somewhere else, where the property is still affordable for them.

Eric Hussain, a senior partner at Carringtons Estate Agents in Shenley Road, does not expect to see trendy cappuccino bars opening in Shenley Road just yet.

He explained that some of the more expensive developments were taking a long time to sell, and that the three-bedroom homes being built on new estates were aimed at families and commuters, not Starbucks-sipping yuppies'.

"Anybody who wants to buy a four-bedroomed house would not want to buy in Borehamwood, regardless of the price.," he said. "Nobody would come to Borehamwood for the high street. We have got four £1 shops, ten charity shops and factory outlets."

The town still has a sizable population living in social housing.

Most of Borehamwood's council estates were built in the 1950s and 1960s, when it went from being a quaint village to a satellite town on the fringe of London.

In 1994, the estates were sold to Ridgehill Housing Association, which still owns more than 4,000 Borehamwood properties. Some of these properties, such as Fountain Court, provide state-of-the-art housing for tenants, while other estates are riddled with crime and in dire need of refurbishment.

Projects such as the Community Shops in Leeming Road and Manor Way have alleviated some of the poverty in the poorest areas, but there is still a great deal of work to be done, and many of the youngsters growing up in Borehamwood still get involved in drugs, gangs and vandalism, which contribute to the town's bad reputation.

Efforts such as the new skateboard park being built in Aberford Park should help to bring a brighter future for Borehamwood's youths, and exam results at Hertswood School have, for the most part, improved since it opened in 2000, but it will take decades, not years, to break the vicious cycle of poverty that leads to teenage pregnancy, drug addiction and crime.

Possibly the most successful communities in Borehamwood and Elstree are based around the synagogues, Orthodox in Borehamwood and Liberal in Elstree, both of which have rapidly-expanding congregations. Eleven per cent of Hertsmere's population is now Jewish, the second-highest concentration in England.

The Jewish primary schools in Radlett and Shenley, and expensive property prices in north-west London mean that Borehamwood is now a good option for young Jewish families.

Rabbi Alan Plancey has been leader of Borehamwood United Synagogue in Croxdale Road for 29 years, and has seen his congregation grow from 100 families to 1,300. He urges Jews to integrate with the community, by getting involved in charitable and voluntary activities, such as local politics.

"It is not the case that the community is isolated into a ghetto, it has brought a lot of business into the town, and people are moving their industries into the area instead of travelling to the West End."

With all the new building planned for Borehamwood it is certain the ethnic population will grow, with more black, Asian and Jewish people moving in. Maybe one day this will lead to the town having a more cosmopolitan atmosphere, and decades-old slurs about Borehamwood being boring will be consigned to the past.