Planning Minister Rob Stokes last week released the Hunter Regional Plan 2036.

In the document, the government talks about growing the Morisset town centre “to accommodate a range of land uses, including business, residential and open spaces, close to the railway station”.

The plan acknowledges that bringing more people into the Morisset district will increase pressure on local infrastructure, including roads.

The announcement has revived calls for a bypass for the town.

Southlakes Business Chamber and Community Alliance (SLBCCA) has long been arguing the case for a bypass.

Former SLBCCA acting president Bruce Baylis said there was an urgent need for traffic snarls in Morisset to be addressed.

“Morisset is unique in the region because it is the only town that has a railway station in the centre of the town, and a main street that is just two lanes wide, and allows horizontal parking on the main road,” Mr Baylis told the Lakes Mail earlier this year.

He said traffic peaks through Morisset were expanding, particularly in the afternoons.

And the town quickly became gridlocked when any traffic incident on the M1 Pacific Motorway forced vehicles to exit the motorway at Morisset.

He said an accident on the M1 Pacific Motorway in June highlighted the problem.

“Traffic was bumper to bumper from the M1 exit ramp at Morisset all the way to Toronto,” he said.

The Hunter Regional Plan 2036 confirms Morisset’s status as a ‘strategic centre’ in Lake Macquarie, while Toronto is identified as a “centre of local significance”.

The plan was the Hunter region’s blueprint for “a prosperous, healthy and attractive” lifestyle, Mr Stokes said.