The Greater Cities Commission says Broadmeadow, north-west Lake Macquarie and East Maitland "tick a lot of boxes" for priority government spending to unlock housing.
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The government agency's executive is holding its monthly strategic planning meeting in Newcastle this week, a year after the commission's remit expanded to include the Lower Hunter, Central Coast and Illawarra as part of a so-called "Six Cities mega-region".
The commission will prioritise about 20 districts in its next Six Cities "region plan" to be published this year.
Chief commissioner Geoff Roberts told the Newcastle Herald that the proposed Hunter Park sport, entertainment and residential redevelopment at Broadmeadow was among the precincts up for consideration.
"It ticks a lot of boxes for us. We're going through a prioritisation process at the moment, but it ticks a lot of boxes for us," he said.
Regional leaders have criticised a lack of progress on the Hunter Park project since it was announced six years ago by the former Coalition state government.
Mr Roberts said the GCC's job was to identify precincts in the Lower Hunter, Sydney, Central Coast and Illawarra which could deliver housing at least cost to taxpayers and "to get the enabling infrastructure coordinated so that you don't sequentially deliver it".
"There's been a lot of rezoning happen in the last five years. It's now about the prioritisation of enabling infrastructure. It's not about the strategies or the planning; it's about the prioritisation of the money.
"What we're trying to move to is programmatic, place-based prioritised funding.
"We need to link smart jobs with smart housing, otherwise we're not respecting future generations."
He said social housing was a "crucial element of the whole picture" and "we just need to do more quicker in the social housing line".
Lower Hunter city commissioner Matt Endacott said north-west Lake Macquarie and East Maitland also "come up regularly from all corners".
Mr Endacott said many "town centres" in the Lower Hunter were "under-utilised".
"A lot of our councils want to see more infill," he said.
"We do have a very old settlement across the Lower Hunter where we have a number of established town centre environments which are very liveable, reasonably well serviced by public transport. Some of them have railway stations.
"Councils want to use those places better, but we do need to get better at prioritising that enabling infrastructure. There's a range of issues, from your sewer system to your roundabout to mass transit to schools, hospitals."
Mr Roberts, a self-confessed "trainspotter from way back", said high-speed rail and improving digital connections were also priorities for the GCC.
"We remain committed to high-speed rail. We'll be working closely with the High Speed Rail Authority on the settlement patterns along that route.
"But let's not forget about digital connectivity. It's not brilliant to this part of the world. We think there's about 8 per cent of homes that are not digitally connected.
"How can we expect citizens to live in a dot.com world where we're expecting people to use their mygov account for health, home school kids, if they're not connected.
"We haven't got 100 per cent coverage of the NBN. We need to finish the job we started 10 years ago and make sure every citizen in the Lower Hunter is connected digitally. It's just not fair."
The GCC executive will finish its planning meeting in Newcastle on Wednesday.
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Michael Parris
Michael Parris reports on politics for the Newcastle Herald. He started at the Herald in 1994 after working in the ABC Newcastle newsroom. Michael spent much of his career as a sub-editor before moving into political reporting in 2017. He was a finalist in the Sports Australia national media awards for his stories about a male-only tennis club in Newcastle. He has covered NSW and federal elections, state and federal budgets and local politics. He has also written extensively about the COVID-19 pandemic with a special focus on data analysis and the effects of lockdowns on the Hunter community.
Michael Parris reports on politics for the Newcastle Herald. He started at the Herald in 1994 after working in the ABC Newcastle newsroom. Michael spent much of his career as a sub-editor before moving into political reporting in 2017. He was a finalist in the Sports Australia national media awards for his stories about a male-only tennis club in Newcastle. He has covered NSW and federal elections, state and federal budgets and local politics. He has also written extensively about the COVID-19 pandemic with a special focus on data analysis and the effects of lockdowns on the Hunter community.
