Summerland Point resident Meredith Corrigan may live by Lake Macquarie but officially she is a resident of the Central Coast.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
For Mrs Corrigan is not in the Lake Macquarie Local Government Area, despite her home being only about 400 metres away from that body of water. Instead, she is a ratepayer in the Central Coast LGA.
Meredith Corrigan believed it was time the LGA boundary was changed.
"We should be in Lake Macquarie [LGA], no doubt about it," said Mrs Corrigan, the secretary of the Gwandalan and Summerland Point Peninsula Improvement Group.
"If you look at this peninsula we're just this little little piece poking out that has nothing to do with the Central Coast. It's totally illogical why we're linked to the Central Coast."
COVID vaccination NSW
The frustration has been only heightened by the state government's COVID-19 stay-at-home orders for those in the Greater Sydney zone. The Central Coast LGA is part of that zone. Which means a number of southern Lake Macquarie communities, including Summerland Point, Gwandalan, Chain Valley Bay and Mannering Park, that are in the Central Coast LGA are living in lockdown.
The 11,000 or so living in those communities make up a fraction of the Central Coast LGA, which has a population approaching 350,000 and an area of 1681 square kilometres. The Lake Macquarie LGA has a population of about 207,000 and an area of 648 square kilometres.
State MP for Swansea, Yasmin Catley, who represents those southern Lake Macquarie communities, said some had been calling for a boundary adjustment for years, dating back to when they were part of Wyong Shire Council, before it was amalgamated into the larger Central Coast body in 2015.
"There has continued to be a voice definitely agitating for those suburbs to become part of Lake Macquarie, but in the last three weeks I've heard that voice roar," Ms Catley said.
The call for those suburbs to all be part of the Lake Macquarie LGA has come from councillors on the northern side of the boundary as well.
"It makes sense for all the [lake] communities to be in one LGA," said Lake Macquarie Mayor Kay Fraser. "Because of COVID and the restrictions, it makes more sense now than it ever did."
"I think there's some merit in the large body of water that is Lake Macquarie being in one central control; that has some advantages," said Lake Macquarie councillor Jason Pauling, who represents the west ward, which stretches down to the Central Coast LGA boundary.
In September 2019, Lake Macquarie councillors debated a motion for the mayor and CEO to hold discussions with Central Coast Council representatives about "common purposes between the two councils which might ensure the most efficient ongoing management of the lake catchment, and whether possible boundary adjustments might help to facilitate this".
At the time, Councillor Pauling supported an amendment to that motion, urging the council to be more direct in pushing to call for a boundary change.
"I think it's no secret that it's been a goal of this council for quite some time to get control of the entirety of the lake," he said at the meeting in 2019. "I don't think that's a surprise to anyone here.
"Boundary adjustments are the only way that the lake goes into the hands of a single controlling entity - us, in this instance. We've been working towards that for a long time."
The original motion was passed and there were conversations between the two councils' representatives, but there was no discussion of boundary adjustments.
Since then, a financial blowout has led to the Central Coast Council being suspended and an administrator appointed.
A Central Coast Council spokesperson said the Office of the Administrator declined to comment about residents wanting to be part of the Lake Macquarie LGA.
Yasmin Catley said that during a general meeting with the Central Coast Council's CEO and administrator last week, she raised this issue, saying, "I just wanted to bring it to their attention".
But the Swansea MP said with the issue came a host of considerations, such as the ongoing provision of services, so "it's not as simple as drawing a line somewhere else".
Some living by the lake at the northern end of the Central Coast LGA don't want those boundary lines redrawn.
Gwandalan resident Tony Kirby reckons on this issue, the split among residents would be "close to 50-50".
Mr Kirby, who is the president of the Gwandalan and Summerland Point Peninsula Improvement Group, is one who is content to remain on the Central Coast Council side of the line.
"I'm not happy with Central Coast Council, as such, but I'm happy with being in the Central Coast area," Mr Kirby said.
"We get better facilities, such as the rubbish collection. I've been on the Lake Macquarie roads, and they leave a lot to be desired."
Read more: COVID worlds apart on the lake
Lake councillor Jason Pauling conceded that while a boundary change would make sense for the management of the lake and environmental reasons, there were questions whether it would work from "an efficiency point of view and resident outcome perspective".
Councillor Pauling said issues such as rates and ensuring the provision of services to the southern end of the lake would need to be further investigated.
"Would we like control of the lake? Absolutely," he said. "But the economic reality needs to be taken into account."
And part of that economic reality, he pointed out, was looking to the future, particularly with both councils having land that held potential for residential development, and neither side would want to give those growth corridors up.
"I can't see anything happening anytime soon," Cr Pauling said. "And why would they give it up?"
Mayor Kay Fraser said the boundary change issue was one that could be revisited after the September local government elections.
"I think there's a need for the conversation to continue," Cr Fraser said.
State Lake Macquarie MP Greg Piper, who represents the western side of the lake, said he supported the LGA boundary adjustments, arguing "it just makes sense" to have the catchment under one local government authority.
IN THE NEWS:
- NSW COVID cases: 136 cases today as restrictions change to stem exposure sites
- Lake Macquarie yacht drug bust: two men sentenced for 991-kilogram methamphetamine bust
- Newcastle court hears scaffolder threatened to kill notorious developer Daniel Roberts in dispute over $64,000
- Brawl in the boardroom as besieged Newcastle C&S Cricket board refuses to go
- Knights to sign Souths centre Dane Gagai for the next 3 years
Mr Piper said he proposed the boundary changes to the Local Government Minister when the government was planning the controversial council amalgamations, but the discussions didn't get far.
"I think it's something, if it comes from the community, that should be seriously considered," said Mr Piper.
LGA boundary adjustments are handled through the NSW government's Office of Local Government, which has a boundaries commission.
A spokesperson for the OLG said, "Proposals submitted to the Minister for Local Government are considered under the Local Government Act".
Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can continue to access our trusted content:
- Bookmark: newcastleherald.com.au
- Download our app
- Make sure you are signed up for our breaking and regular headlines newsletters
- Follow us on Twitter
- Follow us on Instagram
- Follow us on Google News