Elmbridge students will benefit from an £80million injection, if the merger of Brooklands College and Spelthorne College goes ahead.

Spelthorne will come under the Brooklands College banner and both sites, at Weybridge and Ashford, will be redeveloped as part of an area often overlooked for investment.

The Learning and Skills Council (LSC) will invest an estimated £70million, with the college expected to find about £10million through loans and mortgages.

LSC has identified Surrey, and especially Spelthorne, for the flagship project in recognition of a growing problem with the number of 16-year-olds opting out of education.

Compared with the rest of the county, Spelthorne has 12 per cent fewer pupils staying on after 16 and 12 per cent less leaving school with five GCSEs at grade C or above.

Colin Staff, principal of Brooklands College, said modern facilities and an expanding curriculum should encourage teenagers to stay.

Championing the important role of business, he said the new college will place an emphasis on vocational courses such as hairdressing, construction and social care.

He dismissed claims that colleges in other areas would lose out because of the investment, because admissions will be from students not already in education.

He said: "We have been careful in our planning that the number of young people and adults will not come from other providers.

"We specifically worked not to impact Esher and Strode's colleges, or any school sixth forms."

Brooklands College has 1,745 full-time students and another 6,000 studying part-time or in surrounding areas. Spel-thorne College has almost 1,800 students on its roll.

The merger will create room for another 500 full-time students and about 35 new teaching posts.

Although at an early stage, plans for the Spelthorne site involve a public walkway into the college, with a huge glass atrium acting as a visual focus and an energy saving aid.

Pupils already at either college will not find classes affected by the merger, and a shuttle bus will take pupils the 12 miles between sites in future. Mr Staff said the catering department would be permanently moved to the Ashford site.

The colleges will merge from September, pending approval from the Secretary of State, and the new college buildings will be opened in 2010.