Older People's Strategy - Newcastle City Council

61Information and accessInformation NOW includes a comprehensive health section withinformation on health education. It also includes a local activitiessection which will expand as Information NOW develops. Thepromotion of activities and health education is often a keycomponent of older people’s events and information days.It is increasingly important that we build exercise into our dailyroutines and that our environment encourages and supports usto do this, with more opportunities for walking and cycling safely.The Local Development Framework includes an aim to maintainand improve access to open spaces for outdoor recreation, bothformal and informal and to develop more pedestrian-friendlyroutes. Community facilities such as community centres, librariesand sheltered housing complexes, with good access andfacilities, are also important venues or hubs in which activitiescan take place.Many of the activities currently provided in these settings areorganised by voluntary or community groups. The cost of theindividual activities is small in comparison to the benefits theybring. The lack of very modest amounts of resources, whichcan be accessed easily, can often jeopardise communityactivity which has value beyond simply providing a classor exercise session, but acts as a critical support network.Changes in funding mean that it is currently hard to find theresources to sustain some of this important activity. A modelfor distributing funding at local level similar to the Healthworks’‘Activities for Health’ model or the Year of Exercise and Sportgrants through ward committees provided an effectivemechanism for supporting community-based activity.