Active Living and Movement

Why move your body?

Moving your body is good for you in so many ways. It can provide a range of fun experiences, make you feel good, improve your health and is a great way to relax and enjoy the company of your friends.

Regular body movement can:

• help prevent heart disease, stroke and high blood pressure
• reduce the risk of developing type ll diabetes and some cancers
• help build and maintain healthy bone, muscles and joints, reducing the risk of injury
• promote positive mental health and wellbeing.
    

For free and low-cost local programs to get you moving, suitable for all abilities and ages, check out: 

• your local Heart Foundation Walking Groups
• Melton Learning Directory
• Live Life Get Active
• The Big Issue Street Soccer
• Melton City Girls Can 
  
  

Active Travel

Active travel is using physical activity, like walking, biking or scooting to get from one place to another instead of driving. Active travel can improve health and wellbeing as it provides an opportunity to move your body, reduce pollution from cars and save money. It also helps make our neighbourhoods better places to live by reducing traffic on the roads and creating safer streets for everyone.

In 2023, Council ran an active travel pilot project in partnership with Aintree Primary School to increase the uptake of active travel through addressing road safety, access and behavioural barriers. This included mapping and promoting safe active travel routes to school, developing active travel and driver behaviour change campaigns, embedding road safety education into the school curriculum and running events for the school community to promote the uptake of active travel.  

Building on the success of the pilot, Council supported an additional twelve primary schools in 2024, 2025 and 2026 utilising funding from the Department of Jobs, Skills, Industry and Regions. This funding enabled Council to continue to promote safe active travel across the municipality. As part of the program, participating schools developed safe routes to school maps to help students identify safe walking, riding and scooting pathways to and from school. The maps for each school are available to download below: 

Aintree Primary School(PDF, 4MB) 
Arnolds Creek Primary School(PDF, 1MB)  
Burnside Primary School(PDF, 1MB) 
Deanside Primary School(PDF, 1022KB) 
Diggers Rest Primary School(PDF, 1MB) 
Kurunjang Primary School(PDF, 1MB) 
Melton Primary School(PDF, 1MB) 
Melton South Primary School(PDF, 1MB) 
Melton West Primary School(PDF, 1MB) 
Rockbank Primary School(PDF, 823KB) 
St Anthony's Primary School(PDF, 1MB)  
St Dominics Primary School(PDF, 1MB) 
Thornhill Park Primary School(PDF, 1MB)

An example of the accompanying footpath decals used to mark safe routes to school, is available to download here: footpath decals installed at Diggers Rest Primary School(PDF, 658KB)

Council can work with your school, workplace or community group to increase the uptake of active travel in your local area. To find out how, reach out to the Community Health Promotion team via email: socialplanningprojects@melton.vic.gov.au. 

Heart Foundation Walking Groups

These FREE walking groups in the City of Melton are a great way to get some outdoor exercise, where beginners are welcome. 

When	Where	Starting Point
Monday 9.30am	Melton	Melton Library and Learning Hub 31 McKenzie Street, Melton
Tuesday 9.30am	Melton South	Melton South Community Centre 41 Exford Road
Tuesday 10am	Taylors Hill	Taylors Hill Men's Shed Morton Homestead 7 Morton Boulevard, Taylors Hill
Thursday 9.30am	Caroline Springs	Near the steps on Lake Street
Thursday 11am	Melton South	Melton Station Square 11/17 Station Road Melton South

  
View the Heart Foundation Walking Group flyer(PDF, 265KB) for further information including contact details for walk organisers.

Visit Council’s Ageing Well webpage for details on other walking programs and low impact exercise groups in the City of Melton.

Check out these resources for more information for you and your family on being active and different ways to get active: 

• National Physical Activity Guidelines
• Active Play Resources for Kids
• Physical Activity for Seniors
• Heart Foundation Physical Activity

For more information on physical activity, walking groups or active travel in the City of Melton, contact our Community Health Promotion team via email: socialplanningprojects@melton.vic.gov.au or call 9747 7200.