Rochdale happier than richest borough in Britain

Rochdale Labour Parliamentary Candidate, Simon Danczuk

A team of researchers from the Universities of Sheffield and Manchester have declared that Rochdale is officially happier than the richest borough in Britain.

In a league table of 273 districts, Rochdale is placed above Kensington and Chelsea, the only place in the country to have an annual household income of more than £100,000 - proving the age-old adage still applies: money can’t buy you happiness.

Using data from the British Household Panel Survey, where people were asked about their sense of wellbeing, the researchers were able to draw up a map of happiness down to district level across England, Scotland and Wales.

The list was topped by the sparsely populated Welsh county, Powys, with Rochdale in 107th place. Kensington and Chelsea came 116th.

“Rochdale has had a bit of a knocking in the media of late but the fact that we measure up as being more cheerful than a place where you find more millionaires per yard than anywhere else in Britain speaks volumes for the people of this town,” said Rochdale’s Labour Parliamentary Candidate, Simon Danczuk.

“The people of Rochdale are our greatest asset; their resilience, good humour and lust for life is a real credit to our Borough.”

The researchers were at pains to add that factors such as social cohesion seemed to have more of an influence in determining the happiest places than location. Researcher Dr Dimitris Ballas, a senior lecturer in Geography from the University of Sheffield, said: "One of the advantages of our method is that it takes into account both people and places.

“For instance, with unemployment we can say that people who are unemployed are on average happier in an area of high unemployment compared to being unemployed in an area where everyone else around you has a job. This highlights the issue of social justice and cohesion."

He added that the researchers also placed a large premium on the importance of social networks.

"From what I've seen so far my view is that if an area is more socially cohesive it increases your chances of having good quality of interpersonal relationships and a good social network. If you live in an area which is very unequal and polarised then you are less likely to have good social networks and friends.”

The research was recently presented at the annual conference of the Royal Geographical Society and the Institute of British Geographers.