Don’t be fooled by the happiness index – the West still needs help

WE make no apologies today for leading the newspaper on a survey that says St Ives is the happiest place to live in Britain and that Falmouth, just down the road, comes in at number 12 in the survey.

There’s not a lot to be cheerful about right now, so anything to lift the spirits might help to improve the collective mood.

It also never hurts to be reminded that none of us who live in the Westcountry are very far away from beautiful places. While St Ives may have claimed the crown as the happiest place to live in the country, with Falmouth not far behind, much of what people love about those two resorts can be said of dozens of other communities up and down the peninsula, from West Dorset to the Scillies and Land’s End to Exmoor.

It is well worth reminding ourselves that if we call Devon or Cornwall home we are, for the most part, blessed with an enviable place to live. Millions can only come here on holiday for a week or two a year. We have the place to enjoy, year round.

There is, however, a serious side to what, on the face of it, appears to be a rather frivolous survey by online estate agents Rightmove who, after all, have a vested interest in promoting locations where they often have properties to sell.

It is a demonstration that, in many of the most beautiful and wellappointed parts of the Westcountry, there are massive gaps between those who are happy with their lot and those who are struggling.

Why else would a survey like this – which took votes from a not insubstantial 21,000 people – come up with the results it did when anyone who lives in almost any of the places making the top 20 know that ‘happiness’ is not an emotion universally shared in any of them?

St Ives is beautiful and a place where people feel there is a sense of belonging. They have green spaces – and the sea – on their doorsteps and there is, clearly, a strong community spirit and good local amenities. Residents described how comfortable they feel to be themselves.

But St Ives also has eye-watering house prices, very few homes to rent unless you are planning a holiday, seasonal work in tourism that is not always well-paid, and a remote location that makes travelling around difficult for those without access to a reliable car they can afford to run.

The respondents to the Rightmove survey clearly don’t experience any of those drawbacks. Good for them. But the fact that all of those issues exist – and in a way that probably doesn’t affect a lot of other places in

Britain, whether they are judged ‘happy’ or not – means there is still much to be done by the Government, local authorities and other organisations to lift living standards in the far-flung South West.

It is easy for politicians to dismiss the calls from beautiful and muchloved areas of the country for more help when, plainly, they don’t fit into the traditional view of what ‘deprived’ looks like.

But appearances can be deceptive, just as surveys asking people how ‘happy’ they are about their community can mislead. It’s a boost for Cornwall that it scores so highly. But it doesn’t mean all is well.