Walking and cycling
Summary
Based on the 2023 Sport England Active Lives Survey, a total of 75.8% of residents in the Lancashire-12 area were estimated to have had one or more continuous walks for at least 10 minutes over the previous month. This compares with the figure of 76.5% for England, but is not significantly higher than this. Fylde, Lancaster, and Ribble Valley had rates that were significantly higher than England. Burnley, Blackburn with Darwen and Hyndburn were significantly lower, as was the North West region. Blackburn with Darwen (65.1%) was ranked sixth lowest amongst English local authorities.
Only two Lancashire authorities, Fylde and Lancaster, were estimated to have cycling rates that were slightly ahead of the national average of 14.7 but not significantly so. Chorley, Ribble Valley, South Ribble and West Lancashire had rates below England that were not significant. All other areas in Lancashire, including the county and the North West region were significantly below the England figure. Cycling rates fell below 10% in the East Lancashire authorities of Blackburn with Darwen, Burnley, Hyndburn and Pendle as well as Blackpool and Preston.
Introduction
The Department for Transport publishes a range of walking and cycling statistics for adults (persons aged 16 and over) at the local authority level. The estimates are sourced from the Active Lives Survey,.
Key points
Walking
Previous figures from an earlier survey, 2020, highlighted the fact that there is an important minority that state that they do not undertake a continuous walk each month of at least 10 minutes. For the Lancashire-12 area, this equated to 24.3% of interviewees, and rose to 31.6% in Burnley.
Cycling
Two Lancashire authorities were estimated to have cycling rates that were slightly ahead of the national average of 14.7%. Fylde recorded a decent 17.4%, but no Lancashire authority has a cycling rate significantly above England. Eight authorities, plus Lancashire-12 and the North West region, were significantly below the England rate. The very low participation in any cycling activity in Pendle is marked by a rate of 7.9% and a rank of 16th lowest in England. Blackburn with Darwen is ranked 13th lowest out of 295 with a participation rate of just 7.6%. The highest rate in England was in Cambridge, which recorded a value of 53.9%. At 41.4% the Isles of Scilly was second and Oxford was third on 39.7%.
Readers may also be interested in Sport England's Active Lives Survey and the Department for Transport's National Travel Survey.
Page updated July 2026