Dear Subscriber,

PCAL wishes you a very Merry Christmas and a safe New Year.

Suggestions to get the kids active this summer include limiting time spent in front of the television and playing computer games; buying gifts that encourage children to be active and playing active games with your children.

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The Fairfax Media sustainable commuting project is an excellent example of how private organisations can encourage and assist their employees to incorporate active living into their daily travel.

UK agency, CABE, has released a publication that demonstrates the positive cost/benefit results of shifting from grey projects like roads to green schemes such as parks.

A US competition calling for design solutions to address the problems of present-day suburbia such as McMansions and parking lots, has lead to a range of innovative retrofit solutions. The proposals are particularly relevant to Australia with a recent report highlighting that Australian homes are now the largest in the world.

A new US rating system LEED-ND has been developed to provide the first US Standard for neighbourhood design that encourages less car dependent, healthy developments. The North Sydney Central Coast Area Health Service has also released a document, 'Urban Planning 4 Health: a Guide for NSCC Population Health', for area health service staff to comment on development proposals.

New York's Department of Transport is trialling innovative strategies to make streets more bike and pedestrian friendly. Bicycle access to office buildings will now also be compulsory to help provide more secure work place bicycle parking.

The Department of Environment, Climate Change and Water has launched a new education program and free resources to improve air quality in NSW. Let’s Clear the Air encourages us all to save money on fuel costs and improve our health by choosing to walk, cycle, enviro drive or catch public transport where possible. 

Victorian car club RACV has been awarded the contract to design and operate Melbourne’s public bike hire system, which will be on the streets around mid-2010.

The City of Sydney has produced a number of resources as part of an ongoing campaign targeting key behavioural issues for cyclists, pedestrians and drivers. Select materials from the education campaign are available for customisation by other interested councils by contacting the City. The City is also running FREE cycling confidence courses and cycle maintenance courses.

Chatswood Chase has included new end-of-trip facilities for cyclists as part of its shopping centre upgrade. The new facilities include a secure bike lock-up cage as well as casual bike racks, public lockers and showers that are accessible to employees and shoppers alike.

The NSW Government has announced streamlined grants programs for sport and recreation projects and facilities across NSW. Applications for all programs close on the 21 December 2009.