During a visit last Thursday Mr Iemma threw his support behind what he described as "a bold plan to return Granville town centre to its former place as a hub for small business and community service''.

That "bold plan'' is largely the brainchild of Granville MP David Borger, who is a qualified town planner and urban designer.

It began to take shape during Mr Borger's term on Parramatta Council, including a stint as Lord Mayor.

He steps down at next month's elections to concentrate on his responsibilities as a state MP.

"It's time we renewed the beating heart of Granville,'' Mr Borger said.

"The state and local governments are working together to breathe new life into the town centre through a number of visionary projects.

"One is going to be the new $18 million police station and the council owns a number of sites that are undervalued which could be returning much more to the community.

"There's a 7000-square-metre site next to the railway station which is very rare in Sydney,'' he said.

"Council's thinking is that it would like to see this redeveloped to bring a supermarket back to Granville [and to] try to get some commuter car parking.''

Mr Iemma said: "I've just come from Parramatta. It's alive with plenty of construction going on. Smaller shopping strips and smaller communities on the fringe of big cities like Parramatta, they too can share in a revitalisation and the kinds of vision that David's got.''

He said the Government would provide a range of assistance to the council including forming a working group with the Cities Taskforce in the Department of Planning, assisting with planning for the site next to the railway station, investigating commuter parking, alleviating traffic congestion and improving access to the town centre.