First published in the Worcester News, 28 March 2014. As the old saying goes, ‘All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy’, and it’s certainly important that our working life doesn’t become our whole life.
One of the jewels in Worcestershire’s crown is the fact that there is such a fantastic quality of life to be had here – and we shouldn’t underestimate the importance of this when raising our profile as an inward investment destination.
A number of recent surveys have highlighted quality of life aspects of living in Worcestershire. For example, Malvern was listed as one of the Sunday Times top 101 places to live in the UK, recognised for its beautiful buildings, good schools, spectacular location and vibrant cultural life.
Worcestershire was ranked third lowest in another poll conducted amongst UK councils in terms of the number of complaints received about unneighbourly behaviour.
And in the Office of National Statistics recent research into wellbeing, Worcestershire performed better than the UK as a whole and the West Midlands region in terms of the levels of satisfaction felt by its residents, how happy and how anxious they felt as well as scores on the extent to which they felt their life was worthwhile.
These measures are important indicators and a valuable part of our selling proposition for inward investment.
At Worcestershire LEP we’ve long argued that Worcestershire is an ideal location in which to work, rest and play. Statistics such as these are useful tools in our armoury to convince the rest of the world that they too should come and do business here