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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Most recent user comments 19 of 19

So a story about whether or not people in Bracknell are happy turns into a row about immigration. Good work guys.

Megaman
13/08/2012 at 09:35

I'm happy because I can live my life without visiting Bracknell town centre. Ignoring that monstrosity with its downtrodden looking people Bracknell is like many other towns in this country. In fact we have a lot of green spaces, more than many. Bracknell has always been like a hotel with no restaurant /bar to me; a sort of a Travelodge. If you can treat it as somewhere to lay your head, and you work and play somewhere else then it's ok. The problem comes for those whose lives mean they have to go into the town centre everyday to earn a crust. Then it's easy to get dragged down by being in the waiting room for the Jeremy Kyle show.

Remember Bracknell is not a Hilton, it's a Travelodge (and the rooms are clean!)

Candid Turkey, Bracknell
06/08/2012 at 14:30

Strangely I feel happier.........

Winstanley, Bracknell
06/08/2012 at 09:57

I'll make this nice and easy for you - in easy language you might understand if your read slowly and carefully.

Where have I advocated filling "this small overcrowded island with foreigners of an alien culture"?

That is where you simplify and generalise, and highlight your inability to enter a debate with anyone who holds even the slightest difference of opinion.

Where have I said - "open the floodgates, let 'em all in and to hell with the consequences"? Where?

You think that because I detest the xenophobic and bigoted manner in which you present your arguments that I'm somehow a poster boy for abandoning the borders. Maybe that's too subtle for you and this is why you have trouble understanding what I'm trying to say. My problem is with you and the offensive manner in which you frame your thoughts. In your earlier comments you didn't which is why I found it quite easy to agree with what you said - because you presented your thoughts in a reasonable and decorous fashion.

But it's clear that you don't bother to read properly (or listen to) what others have to say - otherwise you'd see where we often have a crossover of thinking.

Oh, and generalise? Let me see....

" I know I speak for the majority of those of us who remember this country when it was a nice place to live."

Prove that. Show me in detail - with hard facts mind, not just more spittle flecked ranting - where you represent the majority of the country.

I have family members who fought and died for this country in two world wars, and I know for a fact that they didn't give up their lives for the kind of nonsense you spout.

Winstanley, Bracknell
06/08/2012 at 09:56

Winstanley,tell us all why you wish to fill this small overcrowded island with foreigners of an alien culture which has already been shown to produce a fractured society and when you will decide that we are full.Your arguments are totally illogical.We do not need unskilled workers and if anyone states we need skilled workers then they admit the education system is at best flawed and actually ruined by Government policy.Preference is generalisation?Preference is simplification?When did we have a debate about immigration?Perhaps you would also like to tell us that.After a debate there is ususally a vote.I do not remember us having that either.You are merely accepting the brainwashing handed out by the political machine where immigrants were brought in after the Attlee Government (of fools) passed legislation to give every Commenwealth citizen right of abode in this country.That must have applied to 1 billion people at that time!If you were old enough at that time would you have supported that?

DrBChing
06/08/2012 at 07:24

....and he bites!

You just can't help yourself with your gross generalisations, simplifications, and refusal to see any other side to a debate other than your own.

Tedious.

Winstanley, Bracknell
05/08/2012 at 17:18

As you mention it,I see no reason why we should invite all the rest of the World to this tiny overcrowded island.The Island for which my father and millions like him made tremendous sacrifices to stop us being overrun by an alien culture which has now been invaded by the connivance and collusion of those who should have been defending it without a shot being fired.I AM angry;because on so many important and culture changing decisions we,the electorate have been given no say on policy and those of feeble mind have been brainwashed into accepting the situation and the eduction system has been destroyed and now tells people what to think,not how to think.I have nothing against foreigners,in their own country and they are welcome to visit here to see what a lovely country we used to have.I welcome free trade with other countries but not being dictated to by unelected foreigners and paying handsomly for the privilige.Immigration has brought no benefits to this country;what it has done has balkanised it with various factions who want nothing to do with each other.I am not allowed to say what I want or dislike anyone I choose.I prefer the way of life we used to have in this coutry whaich has been swept away without reference to the electorate.That is not predudice or bigotry,it is preference and I know I speak for the majority of those of us who remember this country when it was a nice place to live.You should be angry too,because those who have dictated to us on these issues will surely dictate to us on loss of other freedoms and because people like you seem to like being dictated to they will further erode your freedom.

DrBChing
05/08/2012 at 08:32

Just because I disagree - and take offence - at the nasty manner you bang on about immigration and foreigners does not mean I agree with absolutely everything successive governments have implemented. In fact show me anywhere where I have agreed with government policy of any persuasion! We live under a system that is all about self interest, vested interest, and often conducted to the benefit of the few at the expense of the many. The further points you have made I again find little to disagree with.

Your mistake is that you equate a sense of equality when discussing our fellow human beings (no matter their nationality or race) with being in hock to a specific political doctrine. I was brought up to recognise I'm no better than anyone else, and my fellow citizens of the world have as much right to exist and make the best of their lives on this planet as I do.

Since when did basic decency and consideration signify a political persuasion?

And you sound so angry all the time...

Winstanley, Bracknell
04/08/2012 at 19:50

I am surprised Winstanley agrees with me because he seems to happily accept the policies and brainwashing rammed down our throat by successive Governments and their inevitable consequences yet he thinks I am correct in my analysis of why people are unhappy.I am unhappy because this once lovely country has been ruined by the politicians and in almost every policy they have pursued,a diametrically opposite policy would have the support of the majority and would have produced a better place for us all.For example,Brown ruined everyone's pension "pot" by his raid.Now the current shower have ruined the annuity you get by their policy of printing money (which will not work) but will reduce future pensioners (and I do hope Winstanley has yet to benefit from all those policies) to poverty.

DrBChing
04/08/2012 at 13:26

Have to agree with the comments on here.

There is nothing to do in Bracknell, nowhere to eat, not very good entertainment, restaurants are expensive and not great value for money, poor leisure facilities, shops are dreadful.

Also agree how unfriendly people are, no sense of community.

Guess I must be unhappy too :)

CMK
04/08/2012 at 12:22

It amazes me how the government can waste so much money on finding things out such as how happy we are. Nobody came and asked me!!! I simply can’t comprehend why the question has to be asked of why people who live in Bracknell are not happy. It’s not rocket science. The council and/or BRP aren’t interested in telling anyone anything other than “See how your new town will look – once we have some money” i.e. it’s like the old game shows where the contestant loses and their noses are rubbed into it showing what they “could” have won. People in Bracknell are sick to the back teeth of thousands being wasted on endless plans for the town and then nothing happening other than more shops closing down. It’s been going on for over 20 years and so when is new blood going to be injected into BRP because it’s obvious to me that those running the show at the moment aren’t actually doing a good job? Then, and only then, will the people of Bracknell feel that their town is going to be saved. Carry on like this and there will be no town to be worth saving.

HK, bracknell
03/08/2012 at 18:45

Ooooh! If I got expelled from the Tory party, I'd be well happy!

Frank Chicken
03/08/2012 at 16:14

The Mayor is probably unhappy becuse she got expelled from the Tory party.

http://www.getwokingham.co.uk/news/s/2116800_hold_free_vote_on_housing_plan http://bracknellblog.blogspot.co.uk/2012/01/three-conservative-councillors.html

Tim Tof, Bracknell
03/08/2012 at 16:11

Ah, the usual grumpy unhappy squad. Does a low level of happiness equate to being unhappy?

Olds Oak, Finchampstead
03/08/2012 at 15:24

Witwas - given the current climate and falling retail sales - i would be surprised if BRP will make any profit - its pension fund money thats being used and they have to make a return. On Winchester house - i doubt its that simple ... Comer where rumoured to have paid well over £15m for the site - doubt that a CPO would offer anything close to that - and if the Council slapped a "no high rise" view for that site it would never be developed unless they all ended up being £1m apartments.

I do find it very funny that the Mayor says she thinks that its becuase "the people are not being istened to" .... This is the MAYOR, the 1st citizen of Bracknell Town saying people arent being listened to?? Seriously???

Tom Edwards, Bracknell
03/08/2012 at 15:23

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.