The ambitious government plans to establish a major sports and entertainment precinct around Hunter Stadium and build 20,000 new homes in the surrounding suburbs are a welcome boost for the city.
For the first time, a NSW government has put down on paper a shopping list of projects long seen as a priority in Newcastle, not least of which are a new entertainment centre, upgrades to Hunter Stadium and light rail to Broadmeadow.
The Broadmeadow "place strategy", published on Wednesday in concert with Newcastle council, is the first detailed planning document for a project launched by the former Coalition government seven years ago.
Planning Minister Paul Scully is to be congratulated for reviving the strategy, but now comes the hard work of finding the money - the strategy says more than $3 billion - to do it all.
Newcastle's inner-city urban renewal project, including the light rail, famously went ahead in ad hoc manner without a document like the one made public on Wednesday.
Not everyone regards the tram and Honeysuckle as a success.
The Broadmeadow strategy sets out approximate funding timelines for myriad projects, from raising Lambton and Griffiths roads to cater for flood risks in 2050 to building a regional indoor aquatic centre.
One of its most welcome goals is to establish an entertainment precinct around the stadium and a new indoor arena next door.
Hunter Stadium stacks up reasonably well as a regional arena hosting national league sport and international concerts, but it is not supported by the bars, restaurants, hotels and residential areas that surround big stadiums in other parts of the world.
Crowds arrive in cars, watch the game, then leave.
Knights and Jets fans, concert-goers, tourists and future Newcastle National Basketball League club supporters will appreciate a lively neighbourhood to enjoy before and after events.
Of perhaps more pressing need are the apartments the area could provide for thousands of people in a city struggling with rising house prices and a tight rental market.
The new strategy needs some tweaks, including bringing forward the 20- to 30-year timeline for the light rail extension.
In 2020, the former government reluctantly released a summary of a business case for a light rail extension to John Hunter Hospital which suggested the city was too small and too addicted to cars to justify the project.
But that was before the population started to grow more rapidly. Depositing 40,000 people and new venues in the Broadmeadow area should give the Minns government reason to revisit the idea sooner, even if the line does not run to the hospital.
The government has jumped aboard the "transport-oriented development" bandwagon, pushing through new housing density rules around 37 train stations.
Broadmeadow is not one of these, presumably because the new place strategy supersedes that program, but it will make no sense if the feds and their High Speed Rail Authority decide to run a Sydney bullet train to anywhere but Broadmeadow Station.
Imagine spending $3 billion to bring in 40,000 people only to have a high-speed line bypass the city.
The 30-year vision will need to bring along the sports clubs and community organisations that now occupy the Hunter Park land, including Broadmeadow Magic, the show association, harness club, Newcastle Basketball and District Park tennis centre.
This promises to be a messy process unless genuine consultation, forward planning and buckets of money are in the mix.
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