Lake Macquarie City Council officials appear to again be caught in an identity crisis.
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Last week, the Newcastle Herald reported that the council had renewed plans to create a Lake Macquarie-named suburb.
And today, a Herald report states that four city councillors tried but failed to label Charlestown as Lake Macquarie's central business district.
City councillors tried to create a suburb called Lake Macquarie back in 2012. The plan was to hive off part of Speers Point and name that Lake Macquarie.
The plan would have covered about 260 residential properties, along with Speers Point Park and the council administration building.
The aim was to boost Lake Macquarie's identity and differentiate it from Newcastle and Port Macquarie.
Council officials argued at the time that the plan would allow Lake Macquarie to gain a postcode, signs on the F3 freeway and enable the entire city to be found easily on Google and GPS devices.
At the time, opinion was split among affected residents. The Geographical Names Board rejected the plan because it "would create confusion with address matters".
"Many people around the water body of Lake Macquarie already refer to themselves as living at Lake Macquarie," the names board said at the time.
"There is considerable community opposition to the proposal and in its current form there is the possibility of confusion for emergency services."
A previous move in 2009 to investigate renaming an area around Glendale as Lake Macquarie City was also quashed by elected councillors, after community feedback that was "overwhelmingly" against the proposal.
This followed a plan in 2007 to name an area including Stockland Glendale and Hunter Sports Centre as Lake Macquarie.
It was also rejected because of public opposition. Some were concerned that tourists would discover that the heart of Lake Macquarie was "a shopping centre and industrial complex with no water" and continue to Newcastle.
Despite this history, as the Herald has reported, the council is again considering the creation of a Lake Macquarie-named suburb around the former Pasminco land.
And the idea of formally declaring Charlestown as Lake Macquarie's main CBD was voted down 7-5 this week.
Some Lake Macquarie officials appear to have a bit of an inferiority complex.
People in the Hunter know where Lake Macquarie is. Many of them like the place. Most people probably understand that Lake Macquarie stands alone, while being part of Newcastle and the Hunter.
If outsiders want to find Lake Macquarie, they can simply google it. The entire city will show up.
Perhaps it's time for Lake Macquarie officials to stop worrying about their identity.
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