But they say police numbers must now be increased at both stations.

The Newcastle Herald has reported that Police Minister Mike Gallacher is about to sign off on a major shake-up of policing in the Lake Macquarie Local Area Command.

It will involve a $21 million injection to redevelop the Belmont, Toronto and Morisset police stations.

Member for Lake Macquarie Greg Piper welcomed the news but said the Toronto and Morisset police stations were "still very significantly understaffed compared to other local area commands".

"My constituents in the past have raised significant crime and anti-social behaviour incidents and feared for their physical and property safety," he said.

"They have been terrorised by adolescent gangs and complained that either the police turned up late or not at all."

Mr Piper has long campaigned for more police presence in the Lake Macquarie region and, in 2007, said the ratio of police to population in the local area was about half that, on a per capita basis, of the rest of NSW.

"Our local police do well considering their under-staffing levels compared with other similar population districts," Mr Piper said.

"And they face huge logistical problems in having to service numerous small villages and suburbs spread across a large geographic area."

He said that although the community held the local police in very high esteem, there was often concern about incident response times and the "inability of police to deal with minor crime and anti-social behaviour due to their obvious need to prioritise their workload".

Mr Piper said police staffing levels at the new stations should be more in line with staffing levels at other comparable police centres.

He said the Toronto police station was outdated and had one shower for all staff, and only one toilet for 20 female staff.

Morale was affected by these work conditions, he said.

Southlake Business Chamber coordinator Rosmairi Okeno said a new Morisset police station was long overdue.