Up to 100 people crammed into Peaberry's Coffee Roaster cafe, at Islington, on Monday, March 31, to discuss the future of the area.

Throsby Villages Alliance spokeswoman Susie Bradley said the planned rail interchange, the Newcastle Urban Renewal plan and a new local environment plan would affect the area.

"We wanted people to get involved," she said.

"We need to address it now, we don't want the next time [we meet] to be a knee-jerk reaction to a development application."

Ms Bradley said the number of people who turned up showed that residents were concerned about the future of their suburbs.

The Throsby Creek Alliance represents those living in Carrington, Islington, Maryville, Tighes Hill and Wickham.

Newcastle City Council senior strategic planner Patricia McCarthy and Corinne Fisher, of the Better Planning Network, both attended the meeting to help explain potential changes.

"It's such a dry subject but we were astounded by the amount of people who turned up," Ms Bradley said.

Ms Bradley said she hoped residents would become more involved in discussion.

She said the alliance was not anti-development but wanted the villages to keep their identity.