A FAILURE to invest in the future of Oak Farm School will condemn Mayfield to more decades of poverty and deprivation, politicians were warned on Monday.

The warning came from community leaders who met Hampshire County Council’s executive cabinet after headteacher Gren Earney delivered a vision for the future of the school.

Pc Mark Ranola, the police beat officer for Mayfield, said politicians had an opportunity to finally “get it right” for people in the area, one of the most economically and socially deprived areas in the county.

“It is essential that this area gets nothing less than what is being proposed,” Pc Ranola said. “If we are not driven to be bold and take that step, this area will remain in that category.”

Tikendra Dewan, chairman of the British Gurkha Welfare Society and a leader of the area’s growing Nepalese community, said Oak Farm had been instrumental in helping integrate the indigenous community with new arrivals from Nepal.

He added that with recent legal decisions likely to lead to the extension of settlement rights to former Gurkha soldiers, there was likely to be hundreds more Nepalese families moving to the area.

The kind of vocational institution being proposed was ideal to help the children of former Gurkhas get good qualifications and jobs in the future, he said.

Headteachers of schools in Farnborough also praised the move. Megan Jones, head of nearby Cove School, the nearest secondary school to Oak Farm, called it an opportunity to make vocational education in Rushmoor and Hart work.

Oak Farm had already taken the lead in the consortium of schools in the two districts offering a range of diplomas, she said, but the consortium needed a radical change in order to work as it should.

“There is an opportunity here to do something very bold and put Hampshire at the forefront of education,” she said. “The ethos of Cove has a lot in common with Oak Farm in our response to inclusivity. That is not something that we should lose.

“Let’s establish a centre of excellence here which would have to be used. I would urge you to add that possibility to this area and maximise the opportunities available to this community.”

Mark Sammes, headteacher of Manor Junior School, said his pupils already used Oak Farm’s facilities and an investment in vocational training facilities would improve opportunities to teach primary children in the area.

Head of Farnborough Grange Infant School, Jane Armstrong, said Oak Farm had already made a huge difference to the lives of people living on the Mayfield estates. “There have been many parents who have really blossomed with the help of Oak Farm School,” she said.

Tony Docker, chief executive of Rushmoor Healthy Living, said the school was a vital resource for scores of outside agencies and clubs that used the facilities after hours.

A new kind of college could be used to link students with established industries and help set up new, small businesses on the college campus.

“We could look at this as a business proposition, as well as education,” Mr Docker said.

“We have an opportunity to look right outside the box and make the best use of the space.”

Rushmoor borough councillors Charlie Fraser-Fleming, who represent Mayfield for the Liberal Democrats, and Tory Grange councillor Steve Masterson added cross-party support for the plans from the borough council.

“The vision that has been put forward provides the flexibility that is needed,” Cllr Fraser-Fleming said.

Cllr Masterson praised Oak Farm’s work with the community and said the new plans would “improve the educational offer” in the area.

But Tory county councillor Rod Baulk, a resident of Caswell Close and the representative for the Farnborough North district that covers the school, said the community had seen enough partnership working.

“In 18 years Rushmoor has tried to sort out the problems on that estate and they have never got it right.

“Now we have the added problem of the Nepalese. Although they are welcome, there are new sorts of problems that we haven’t had before.

“We have had enough partnership working. The whole lot needs to be rubbed out. Rub it out and start again.”