Wallsend MP Sonia Hornery raises road, school and transport concerns about a 4000 home development in Lake Macquarie and Newcastle

The Herald reported this week that Lake Macquarie council had voted to proceed with a rezoning proposal for a part of a housing development that would straddle both Lake and Newcastle local government areas.

The development is expected to create 3000-4000 homes spread across a 592ha area which includes parts of Glendale, Edgeworth, Cameron Park, Elermore Vale and Wallsend.

Ms Hornery said while she wasn't against the development itself, there needed to be significant infrastructure introduced to support it.

She said all schools in the area were either at or above capacity.

"They're not meeting the demand of population growth," she said. "There hasn't been a new public school built since I was elected [in 2007]."

She said major roads including the Link Road and Lake Road were also already under pressure from heavy traffic at peak times.

Lake Macquarie councillor Brian Adamthwaite also flagged Minmi Road as a possible concern, saying it should be transferred to the state as it is an on-ramp to two freeways.

This impact on roads is compounded by the lack of public transport options in the area, Ms Hornery said.

"Which is all the more reason to build the Glendale Transport Interchange," she said. "The RMS has stalled on that."

Ms Hornery said she believed the state government needed to work in tandem with the developer to deliver necessary infrastructure and that now was the time to do it, before the houses go in.

Lake Macquarie Council will submit a planning proposal to the Department of Planning, Industry and Environment to start the rezoning process. Following rezoning, a development application would be submitted.

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