Cheshire East named ‘happiest place’ in England

Cheshire East has been named as the happiest place to live in England.

It polled fifth place in the whole of the UK in the Office for National Statistics’ happiness survey – and was placed number one outside Scotland.

People living in the Western Isles in Scotland are on average the happiest in the UK, according to a major Whitehall study.

An analysis based on a survey of more than 300,000 people across Britain by the Office for National Statistics found East Cheshire was only pipped to the title of happiest place to live in Britain by three Scottish island regions and the Scottish Highlands.

Councillor David Brown, Deputy Leader of Cheshire East Council, said he was delighted by this national recognition – but not surprised. He said:

“This is wonderful news and confirms what we have been saying for some time – that Cheshire East is a fabulous place to live, work, visit and do business. It has a very strong local economy, vibrant communities, fantastic schools and beautiful towns, villages and countryside – no wonder it puts a smile on people’s faces. There is so much to celebrate and enjoy about living in Cheshire East that I’m not surprised this survey has highlighted it on the national stage.”

The study, carried out by the Office for National Statistics, asked people to rate their happiness on a scale of one to 10 in the three-year study between 2012-2015, with 0-4 classed as ‘low’ and 9-10 as ‘very high’.

Cheshire East’s national recognition in this survey is not the first plaudit for the Borough:

Cheshire East has already been named ‘Best in the North West’ two years running and has a number of notable ‘firsts’ and high placings, both nationally and in the region:

• Best place to live in the North West, two years running (Halifax Quality of Life survey);
• Cheshire East’s schools are the second best in England (ranking based on performance in Ofsted inspections);
• First local authority to supply energy direct to the public since gas and electricity were nationalised in 1948. This Fairerpower scheme has saved residents more than £1m in total since its launch in March 2015;
• Cheshire is ‘best place’ in country for starting up a rural business (CLA report);
• Best place to start a family – Bollington (PropertyDetective.com report);
• Best place to both start and raise a family – Poynton (PropertyDetective.com report);
• Best in the North West for our low Neets (Not in employment, education or training) figure for youngsters;
• Local Authority Adoption Service of the Year in 2013/14 – as part of Four4Adoption collaboration;
• One of the fastest rollouts of superfast broadband in the country – taking provision to 96 per cent by the end of 2015 – and aiming for 98 per cent by 2017;
• 18,000+ businesses – more per head than even Manchester Council.