Three Lancashire areas, including Burnley, have been ranked among the best areas for fitness fanatics in the country.

Southport, Burnley, and Preston have all appeared in a national list by Forbes Advisor of best locations for exercise lovers, taking into account greenspaces, the number of fitness centres and cycling routes.

Burnley is in 11th position with the town scoring a respectable 65.72 in the index, scoring particularly well for greenspace and climate.

Lancashire Telegraph: Southport Pier in 2016. Taken by Martin Maynard on the highest tide of the year. This would be taken just a few days before the Tram was removed.Southport Pier in 2016. Taken by Martin Maynard on the highest tide of the year. This would be taken just a few days before the Tram was removed.

Southport is the best location for exercise lovers in England and Wales with a score of 79.94. The town scores particularly well for green space with 25.76 per cent of surface area in the town being green space.

Preston placed eighth in the table with a rating of 68.42, scoring fairly in all categories across the board.

Kevin Pratt, from Forbes Advisor, commented on the research: “If you live in an area that has the spaces and facilities to enable you to get plenty of exercise, that's something to celebrate.

"But even if you aren't, you can hopefully find a safe and enjoyable walking, running or cycling route nearby that will help you stay fit and on top of your game."

Lancashire Telegraph: The foundation in Preston's Avenham parkThe foundation in Preston's Avenham park

Forbes Advisor sourced a list of 112 major towns and cities in England and Wales from ‘Office for National Statistics’.

Each town and city were evaluated based on green space surface area, air quality, climate, cycling routes and fitness facilities.

Once information of the different variables was collated and calculated, the data was finalised by taking the average percent rank of green space, cycle routes, weather, air quality and fitness facilities per 100,000 population within each city.

The index was subsequently sorted in descending order by the score (/100).

Newcastle came second, followed by Stoke, St Albans and Sutton Coldfield. Wigan came in 15th while Rochdale placed 17th.