News

People in Bracknell are "not happy"

By Julie Spencer
August 03, 2012

Bracknell people are not a happy bunch, according to a new survey into the well-being of the nation.

Fewer residents claim to have medium or high happiness levels than the national average, while more than average rated their happiness at a low or very low level.

And their town mayor, Councillor Shelagh Pile, believes the reason could be that they are not being listened to.

Cllr Pile, who represents Harmans Water, said: “I think people are fed up with development around the area.

“We are still waiting for our town centre and this is adding to their views.

“Obviously there are a lot of elderly people living here and it might be considered as a rich area, but in lots of areas it is not.”

Cllr Pile said modern life was too remote for many.

She said: “I do wish we were back to when people knew their bank manager locally as now they are too remote and what does annoy me is that it is always assumed that everyone is online whereas I prefer to have a person to talk to.

“People are not being listened to.”

Bracknell people are also revealed as worriers, with more than average claiming they had low or medium levels of anxiety, although the borough is spared the very high anxiety levels gripping its neighbours in Windsor & Maidenhead and Slough.

The data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) Measuring National Well-Being Programme was undertaken between April 2011 and March this year and is intended to create a picture of the quality of life of the nation.

In Bracknell Forest, 30.1 per cent of respondents claimed to have low or very low happiness levels, 1.2 per cent more than the national average.

Medium and high happiness levels were 1.2 per cent below the national average at 69.9 per cent.

Feelings of low or very low worthwhileness in the borough are 0.5 per cent above the national average although fewer people than average reported they had medium or high feelings of worthwhileness.

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Fear and loathing in East Berkshire. Since I moved here, I've been struck by how unfriendly people are in the south east. Say hello to a stranger? No fear! Smile at someone in the street? Not on your nelly! Miserable, absolutely ******* miserable! I'm guessing that because Bracknell was built as a new town to re-home displaced people, it's lacking an organic sense of community that old towns and cities have. Apart from the parks and green spaces left between the estates, there's nothing whatsoever to do in Bracknell. This generation needs to grasp the nettle like they did in the 1950s - rip it down and start again!

Frank Chicken
03/08/2012 at 12:42

It's one of those rare occasions when I agree wholeheartedly with DrBChing - please don't go and spoil it with the usual crowd baiting nonsense. What you've stated is a clear position that I believe many in Bracknell identify with.

We have a borough and town council who have been led by the same people for too long - and they now operate with a sense of impunity and contempt for the residents of this town. We have an MP who views his constituents with an arrogant and patriarchal air - "do as I say, little people of Bracknell, I know what's good for you and will save you from yourselves".

Spot on Wiztwas too.

I sense there really will be an upheaval come 2015 - we need to show the burghers of Bracknell the door because for too long they've treated it as a play thing in which to buff their civic egos without delivering a single thing. Any new administration in Bracknell would start off by sacking Helen Barnett and reducing Winchester house to rubble.

Winstanley, Bracknell
03/08/2012 at 10:10

Perhaps the council will now wake up and realise things like Sunday parking charges in Pay and Display car parks, which are only profitable because of the number of parking tickets issued. That it is not about money. You can scam money out of people for a while, but you upset them in the process.

We do not care if BRP do not make obscene profits from the town centre regeneration, we think the council was wrong to go for massive wholesale redevelopment because it stifled all organic development and has allowed the town to go to rack and ruin.

The council needs to wake up and realise that making profit for their mates is not the way to go.

We need to see some landmark action, the old 3M building should not be replaced with another sky scraper, there were errors of the past, they should not be allowed to perpetuate into the future.

If the developers will not get on with the job of build then use CPO to buy the land for the council (It will be worth next to nothing with a skyscraper ban), knock it down yourselves and sell it on.

Unprofitable things like our Market and our social services are really important to us, they must act as Guardians to these not destroy them in order to make profit or balance the books.

The complain about the cost of freedom of information requests yet they have not embraced the concept. Information should be freely available in the first place, where it is not a freedom of information request can be made and that information should be made available for ever, not just the one answer to he one question. They are having to answer the same questions multiple times, because they are not making the information freely available, they are not opening themselves up.

Wiztwas, Binfield
03/08/2012 at 09:42

I am not surprised.Bracknell is a microcosm of the nation.Those in charge (both local and national) are interested only in staying in power;they will never listen to or carry out the wishes of the majority and are merely self serving.Any attempt at protest is ignored because the way the system is organised,no one but the established political parties has any chance of being elected because there will always be enough voters who are gullible enough to believe what they are told by politicians and we are not allowed that truly democratic process,the referendum.Just look at the state of this country now and ask yourself if we have been well served by politicians since 1945,and do not blame "the bankers" because they can operate only within the rules set by the Government.