What Staffordshire locals think after their community is declared one of UK's 'least anxious'
It's an area of natural beauty which mixes former mining communities with wide areas of forest and wildlife.
Cannock Chase is a real melting pot, combining towns such as Rugeley, Hednesford and Cannock, which have changed from mining to modern commuter-belt towns, with the sprawling and visually stunning Cannock Chase Forest.
Designated as an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB), the forest is described as the jewel of the West Midlands, well known and loved for its scenery, wildlife and rich history and offers walking, cycling and horse-riding in a National Landscape.
All of this has helped contribute to the area being view as one of the least anxious areas in the UK, with the area ranking fourth on a new study by online vape retailer Go Smoke Free.
The retailer looked at Office of National Statistics personal well-being estimates from April 2022 to March 2023 to find the most and least anxious areas in the country, with Cannock Chase ranking fourth on the least anxious list, only ranking behind the Shetland Islands, Mid Ulster in Northern Ireland and Newham in London.
The area reported an anxiety score of 2.23 out of 10, which is 30.67 per cent lower than the national average, while Cannock Chase’s life satisfaction score came in at 7.95 out of 10, which is 6.2 per cent above the national average.
For people working and spending some time in Cannock town centre on a frosty, but sunny Thursday morning, the study results were met with a mixture of surprise, but also pleasure, by residents and visitors.
