The Shoalhaven, Kiama, Shellharbour and Wollongong mayors are attending a NSW Urban Development Institute event to discuss the future of the regions development in the coming years.
They will speak to planners, engineers, contractors and real estate agents as well as major local business owners.
Amalgamation will be a focus of the meeting, Wollongong Lord Mayor Gordon Bradbery told the Illawarra Mercury.
“Developers just don’t look at one council, they look at us as a region and assess us in terms of the number of people who occupy the space between, for example, Helensburgh and Gerringong,” he said.
“Just because we put a little line on the map, they are not going to change their markets, so that’s why councils have to work together.”
The metting is hoping to bring the councils together to form a closer bond and to encourage further communication.
Mobile reporter SHANNON KELLEHER is live blogging from the forum.