Leading Hunter businessman Hilton Grugeon has raised the possibility of a campus for Maitland, suggesting the city’s continued population growth and demand in the Upper Hunter could support such an institution.

It followed comments he made previously that a campus was “inevitible”.

But tertiary education was only one inclusion on the list of improvements the Hunter Land director wanted for Maitland’s 66,500 residents, in response to its status as the fastest growing regional city in NSW.

Mr Grugeon agreed with Maitland Mayor Peter Blackmore that the F3 extension was a priority, although he would accept a modified route, as well as a light rail network for Newcastle’s inner-city rail corridor, which he termed the “Berlin Wall”.

He suggested the light rail option could be the catalyst for providing “much better transport outcomes for Maitland and the Lower Hunter area.”

Affordable housing, aged housing and jobs were also needed.

“We need more health and education opportunities in the Lower Hunter, with a possibility of a university campus in the Maitland area,” he said.

University of Newcastle students supported the idea of another campus, but would want assurances the university’s existing facilities would not suffer.

In addition to its Callaghan headquarters, the university has satellite campuses at Ourimbah and Port Macquarie.

“In terms of bringing higher education to people in rural and regional areas, that’s something we would support,” Newcastle University Students’ Association (NUSA) president Beth Maloney said.

“But in terms of the money the university would have to invest in a new campus, the students would want assurances the university’s three campuses were up to scratch.”

The university’s vice-chancellor was on holidays and unable to comment when the Mercury tried to contact him.

Maitland Mayor Peter Blackmore said he would love to see a campus in Maitland.

He said a university, when added to the city’s Catholic education system, public education system and the TAFE campus at Metford, would make Maitland an academic centre.

He suggested Thornton as the logical location because it was at the end of the F3, close to the Pacific Highway, on a rail route and near a bus depot.

“It’s all the benefits that come with a university: housing, accommodation, the expertise,” Cr Blackmore said.

“It’s another draw for people who are looking at moving to the area.”

A university could also see the education sector overtake retail as the city’s biggest employer.