The tentative partnership came together after it was announced about 1100 new jobs would come to the region in the next few years, including up to 800 at Baiada’s Hanwood plant.

A meeting between mayor John Dal Broi, council general manager Brett Stonestreet, chamber president Pat Pittavino and vice president Paul Pierotti was held at the council chambers on Monday afternoon and the men discussed the “remarkable turnaround” in business investment.

“There are positive signs that show significant recovery,” Mr Pierotti said. 

“We need people to move to this growing regional capital and for that we need planning to provide that growth.”

Mr Stonestreet said the private sector was creating more jobs, but lack of transparency from state and federal governments on infrastructure was limiting potential.

“Local government has to have a 10-year, costed, published capital expenditure plan and if they did as well we could dovetail support for the private sector,” he said. 

“In isolation we miss opportunities, but if businesses could see what was coming down the pipeline they might decide to take more risks.”

Councillor Dal Broi agreed and said with a little help the city could really “fire up”.

Incentives to attract workers away from major cities to regional areas were discussed, with suggestions of tax breaks and special zones considered as ways to attract people to the area.

“Council has shown a way to incentivise business growth with a program to refund up to 100 per cent of contributions,” Mr Stonestreet said. 

“We decided to kickstart business with what is essentially a tax cut and the state government could do that for regional areas. 

“It just takes leadership.”

A long-term planning strategy could also help alleviate congestion problems in Sydney, according to Mr Stonestreet. About 85,000 people move into the greater Sydney area each year while only 15,000 move into the rest of the state. Properly understanding the cost of congestion could lead people to support decentralisation.

The group will continue to meet and discuss ways to facilitate further growth.

“We may still be at odds sometimes but we want to work together for the city,” Mr Pittavino said.