City of Newcastle Government Independent Pricing and Regulatory Tribunal found that Newcastle City Council was not "fit for the future", it was recommended that the City of Newcastle merge with Lake Macquarie City Council. However, the Minister for Local Government subsequently proposed that Newcastle City Council instead merge with Port Stephens Council to form a new council with an area of and support a population of approximately 230,000. The outcome of an independent review was completed by mid–2016. On 14 February 2017, the NSW Government announced it would not be proceeding with further regional council mergers, including the Newcastle City Council and Port
Newcastle City Centre a number of Chinese restaurants and the rear entrance to The Gate. The Tyne and Wear Metro has four stations in Newcastle city centre which are all underground. Running north to south, Haymarket, Monument and Central Station are on both the Green and Yellow lines which run northbound to the Airport or towards the coast via Whitley Bay and southbound to South Hylton or South Shields. St James is the western terminus of the Yellow Line and precedes Monument. Trains run towards the coast via North Shields. Newcastle has two bus stations for local and regional terminating bus services. Services