This week is the beginning of the academic year for most schools and shortly universities will start their year with freshers weeks.

Although the numbers of students across the whole age spectrum is only modest, the impact on most of us is substantial.

Aboout 16 per cent of our society consists of pupils or students but in localities such as Brighton and Hove with two universities, the impact is far greater once their term starts.

Across the nation as a whole, the impact on traffic this week is very noticeable with the buses and roads suddenly at their limits at the beginning and end of school days.

It will take all of us who travel at these times throughout the year a few days to get used to leaving a bit earlier or arriving a bit later than over the last few weeks.

The fact that our children or our neighbours’ children are having to gear up for lessons will also put pressure on them and so the impact is much deeper than a bit of extra traffic.

Yet the outcome if preschools through to universities are properly resourced will be vital to the strength of our nation in future decades to come.

There is a clear sense in which the discomfort and frustration which will affect most of us over the next few days will be justified when in the future we have a well educated new generation and if those about to start the next stage of their education enjoy each of their days.

One of the vital issues is if some of the children studying this year can be inspired to consider participating in STEM subjects.

We are in the middle of the Year of Engineering which is an attempt to tackle a skills gap which already exists, and which is likely to get much more acute assuming our departure from the EU and the Government’s attempt to control our borders takes place.

The way in which the start of an educational year creates challenge for all of us, but which in the long run is to our benefit, offers a useful metaphor for how important it is for us as a society to begin to challenge the concept of nimbyism.

I recall a few years ago hearing about the way in which a Sussex village which was being “threatened” with additional housing chose to embrace rather than reject or oppose this extensive development.

Being a semi-rural place, their capacity for social provision was limited due to the relatively low numbers of residents. As a result of opening up some of their green spaces on the edges of the historic village, they were able to benefit from new community infrastructure such as a new village hall, a GP surgery and growth in their provision of public transport as well as more effective educational provision.

This locality chose to accept the development providing that the designs and layout of their new extended village were acceptable and not simply a harsh imposition determined by people who had no real concern for their future.

I recently attended a talk by another developer who having achieved some major benefits in creating a new town in Kent is now working on a site near Horsham to attempt to create the same set of positive outcomes, while at the same time overseeing the construction of many thousands of new homes.

Such approaches need to be welcomed by communities bearing in mind the potential benefits when things work out well.

Of course, if we as a nation begin to develop an in our back yard (IOBY) approach then it will present a challenge to some of our politicians who along with the students are returning to their places of work this week.

Unlike most schools, Parliament is well resourced in order to make the days of policy making work well.

While some MPs will have listened to their constituents over the summer and are willing to help them to achieve the best outcome for their area, others are constrained by party agendas which are at odds with the needs of local people.

A classic example being how ten Sussex Tory MPs in June voted for Govia Thameslink Railway to retain its franchise even though two spoke within minutes of the vote to complain about the GTR performance at Hassocks and others have regularly complained about GTR since.

In the USA an organisation called IOBY helps communities in five cities to improve their lives.

They are not a movement with a party political agenda but one that fulfils the Greek word for politics “of, for, or relating to citizens”.

Perhaps we could all benefit from something similar here in Sussex.