New figures have revealed a small amount of people in Oxford can walk less than 30 minutes to a train station compared to its historic university rival city.

New analysis has highlighted that people in Oxford struggle to walk to a railway station in contrast to Cambridge. 

The figures which are released by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) show the location of a railway station can have a big impact. 

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The historic university cities of Oxford and Cambridge have similar population sizes, but while 61 per cent of Cambridge residents can walk to a station in less than 30 minutes, only 26 per cent of people in Oxford can do so.

“This reflects the location of the main stations in the two cities, with the station in Oxford being in a more central location in the town centre, while the station in Cambridge is in a more suburban location”, the ONS explained.

Around 57 per cent of the population of England and Wales are able to walk to a railway station within 30 minutes, but this figure is higher in parts of the country with light rail and tram stations, according to the ONS.

The proportion is highest in London, at 96 per cent, followed by north-west England (70 per cent), south-east England (58 per cent) and Wales (50 per cent), with the East Midlands scoring lowest (36 per cent).

Out of 318 local authorities, there are 41 where at least 90 per cent of the population is likely to be within half an hour’s walk of a railway station, 31 of which are in London.

These include seven authorities where the figure is 100 per cent: City of London, Enfield, Islington, Lambeth, Lewisham, Merton and Westminster.

The picture is slightly different when looking at libraries, the ONS found.

The figures tend to show greater access by foot, with only three local authorities in the whole of England and Wales where less than a third of the population is within a 30-minute walk of a library. 

This compares with 71 local authorities where the same is true for railway stations.

“This close alignment to current population centres suggests a physical adaptability of library services that successfully target the England and Wales population as a whole”, the ONS said.

There is once again some variation within similar categories of local authority, however.

Among authorities classed as “urban with city and town”, access to a library on foot within 30 minutes ranges from 100 per cent in Worthing to 36 per cent in Guildford in Surrey.