Study reveals strongest link

RIBBLETON, Preston is the best connected place in Lancashire, figures from the Reach Data Unit/In Your Area have revealed.

That’s because it has schools and doctors’ surgeries – plus food shops and transport links – within an easy reach.

People living in the neighbourhood around St Stephen’s Road are just minutes from schools - on average four minutes to a primary and five minutes to a secondary on foot or by public transport, and six minutes by car.

Getting to their GP will take four minutes on average by walking or public transport or six minutes by car and seven by bike, while it’s 24 minutes to hospital by foot or public transport or 15 minutes in a car.

For those planning to head further afield, Manchester airport is an hour and half away by public transport or 65 minutes in the car, while the nearest hub station Preston (Lancs) is 26 and 14 minutes travel respectively.

Meanwhile, the villages of Cow Ark, Newton-inBowland, and Bolton by Bowland in Ribble Valley (http://statistics.data.gov. uk/id/statisticalgeography/E01025320) are the most isolated places in Lancashire.

By foot or public transport, it’s an average 22 minute journey to a primary school and 47 minutes to a secondary school. By car, that’s cut to 10 minutes and 20 minutes respectively.

A GP is 46 minutes away by walking or public transport, 27 minutes on a bike or 15 minutes in a car, while it takes 90 minutes to get to hospital on public transport.

Getting to an airport or major station is likely to take more than four hours on public transport, although in the car you could be at Leeds airport in 77 minutes and Lancaster station in 59 minutes.

These analyses are gleaned from a study based on official figures, published by the Office for National Statistics (ONS).

The study ranks every one of 32,844 neighbourhoods in England based on how long the ONS says it takes an average person to reach primary and secondary schools, GP surgeries and food shops, plus major railway stations and major airports.