Outgoing Premier Mike Baird ordered the fast-tracking of a "planning pathway" for public parkland at Cooks Cove after broadcaster Alan Jones wrote to him about a push by prominent property developer John Boyd to develop the area.

Fairfax Media can reveal Mr Jones emailed Mr Baird on September 9, 2014, just months after he became Premier, about an "unsolicited proposal" by Mr Boyd, whose $60 million Sydney penthouse apartment was the site of a rapprochement between Mr Jones and Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull during the 2016 federal election campaign.

The unsolicited proposal from Mr Boyd – a friend of the late Kerry Packer – was to develop 80 hectares of the Cooks Cove precinct by building housing on Kogarah Golf Course, which would be relocated to nearby Crown land under a long-term lease with the government.

Under the government's unsolicited proposals guidelines the government may agree to deal exclusively with one company if it has a unique project.