Lord Mayor John Tate floated the idea at a Newcastle Business Club lunch yesterday, saying it was an "innovation" that could go a long way in solving inner-city parking woes.

Unlike the expected "furore" from some, Cr Tate received a warm reception.

"Once people understand that we're not going to obliterate Civic Park they see it in a different context," Cr Tate said.

"I've had a lot of people saying 'geez, this is worth thinking about'."

The Hunter Business Chamber supports the proposal.

President Brett Derwin said it was consistent with the chamber's plan to revitalise Newcastle's CBD into an education and civic precinct.

"The Central Business District must be revitalised and many individual elements need to be examined, costed and considered within the broader context and the Lord Mayor's Civic Park idea is one that should be included," he said.

The radical plan could be the key to Newcastle meeting increased parking demands once the University of Newcastle moved into the city and new city developments emerged, Mr Derwin said.

"We cannot afford to simply say no because such a concept might challenge existing thinking, or in this case, existing uses," he said.

Cr Tate said that if the plan was found to be feasible it was important that all existing car parking stations remained under council management to avoid parking price increases.

"There is no privately owned car parks in the city, so even if it was privately run they couldn't put their price up more because they wouldn't attract any customers," he said.

"Council controls the price of parking and I favour having low-cost parking."