Barnet Football Club has announced an £8 million project in Canons Park, which will see the Bees build a 5,000-capacity stadium for neighbouring homeless team Wealdstone FC, as well as a training ground for the Underhill club and an FA centre of excellence.

The deal will provide Barnet FC with another ground which meets Football League standards and could be used to hold first-team matches, but Bees' chairman Tony Kleanthous insisted this week that there were no plans to leave Underhill.

Land by the site of the former Quinta youth club, off Mays Lane, Barnet, has long been a target for Barnet FC in its bid to build a football academy, but 12 years of negotiations with Barnet Council have failed, and Mr Kleanthous said this week that it was a 'big loss' to the people of Barnet.

"It is a fantastic opportunity for the people of Edgware and people of Harrow," he said. "I am extremely disappointed that we are not able to do something in the borough of Barnet for residents. I think Barnet has missed a fantastic opportunity over the past 12 years. It is a big loss.

"When you try to do something in this borough it Barnet Council always find a reason not to do it. I have found with Harrow that the council always tries to find a way."

"If it has any sense at all, it Barnet Council will see the value of what it is losing. We are going to show this borough what we can do when the handcuffs are removed.

"We do not have an issue with Conservatives or Labour. It is a Conservative council we are dealing with in Harrow and it has been great throughout. In the time I have worked with Mike Freer Barnet Council leader it has been very refreshing."

Barnet FC now owns a 125-year leasehold on the Prince Edward Playing Field, just off Camrose Avenue about 1km outside the borough of Barnet.

The site has been home to an unfinished stadium for two years, after plans to build a new ground for the Stones came to a halt when the developers ran into financial difficulty.

But after negotiations with Wealdstone FC and Harrow Council, Barnet FC have agreed to sink £4.4m into finishing and improving the original plans, as well as providing a health club, a sports injury clinic and banqueting facilities, which will be rented out to recoup the investment.

The rest of the £8.25m will come from grants. Harrow Council and the Stones will also pay rent to Barnet FC.

The proposal, which will go to Harrow Council on August 3, also has provision for a mini-stadium, capable of housing Edgware FC and Barnet FC ladies' matches, as well as a training ground.

Howard Krais, director of Wealdstone FC, said: "We have been working on this project for ten years, and we have been homeless for 15 years. This has always been a solution we have worked for."

Mr Freer said that the council is still hopeful that a new home for Barnet FC will be found.

"This means we can concentrate on the ground issue," he added.

It is hoped the ground will be ready in time for the 2007-08 season.