We've had the government trying to come up with a so-called happiness index, and new surveys seems to crop up every day asking us how happy we are. Last week, The Game of Life maker MG Games came up with results of a poll saying that two-thirds of Britons were unhappy with their lives as it relaunched its board game.

We've had the government trying to come up with a so-called happiness index, and new surveys seems to crop up every day asking us how happy we are.

Last week, The Game of Life maker MG Games came up with results of a poll saying that two-thirds of Britons were unhappy with their lives as it relaunched its board game.

Conservative Party leader David Cameron says we should use happiness to measure quality of life, not wealth.

And now the West Norfolk Partnership is doing the same.

It has decided to compare the hard facts about everything from crime, economic wealth and education to employment and land use against how people actually feel about life in west Norfolk by undertaking a major survey asking residents how happy they are.

Not only that, the borough council is going to break down the results into the areas' nine safer neighbourhoods so people across the area can look

at what affects them locally.

"It is not just about happiness: it is about people's aspirations and the things that affect their quality of life and sense of community," said Nick Daubney, chairman of the partnership.

"We want to know what matters

most to people for their sense of quality of life."

And what then?

"It will help us develop services," he said. "If we know there are specific issues in specific areas, we can change the way we deliver services."

Neighbourhood manager Vicky Etheridge said: "We have lots of data that tells us about actual conditions, such as levels of crime, numbers of abandoned vehicles or reports of anti-social behaviour.

"But this research will enable us to compare these hard numbers with people's perceptions of how life is."

The survey is being conducted

over the next five weeks. It is being carried out by Birmingham-based MEL Research and will see more than 2,500 face-

to-face interviews of people picked using random quota sampling to provide

survey data that will be demograph-ically and geographically representative.

The main reason for the research is to show the government that the Safer Stronger Communities Fund in the King's Lynn area has had an impact on people's lives.

But the council decided to ask more questions and make the survey district-wide.

Ray Harding, the council's chief executive, said: "This survey will provide all west Norfolk agencies with data at a level that has not previously been possible."

Results of the survey are expected to be published early next year, and the council will use it to help formulate policy and even take immediate action.