I hated being at school and yet the minute I left, I wanted to get back.

If only I had known what I know now! I keep telling my two lads that when they moan and groan, but it all falls on deaf ears.

Hopefully the penny will drop before long.

They go to a cracking school, Alder Grange in Rawtenstall. The school has great facilities and teachers.

If my lads try hard they’ll be properly prepared for many of the challenges they’ll face when they eventually emerge blinking into the real world.

On Monday night, Rossendale councillors on the development control committee will make a decision that could have a dramatic impact on the futures not just of my two but generations of youngsters like them.

The school plans to build a sixth form.

If the planning application is successful the sixth form will provide courses that aren’t currently on offer in Rossendale – catering, media and nursery.

Alder Grange has the funding, the desire and a successful track record.

So for the councillors it really should be a no-brainer (not sure that’s the right expression when you are talking schools).

Unfortunately, there’s a question mark over the plans.

Some residents are objecting. Each day during term they have the school’s pupils walk right past their doors.

A friend lives on the school’s doorstep and acknowledges that the traffic can be a pain but only for a few minutes each day.

However, he wants the sixth form to go ahead because Alder Grange has come up with some innovative traffic measures that will actually improve things for residents... I said it was a good school.

The school is never going to please everybody.

But my message to the councillors is simple.

Don’t let an argument over traffic cones obscure the bigger picture.

Your children wouldn’t thank you for it.