<p> Fact Sheet ‘Lake Macquarie Suburb’</p><p> Residents who live within the proposed suburb boundary of ‘Lake Macquarie’ will be required to change their address to reflect the new suburb name within 12 months timeframe.  Lake Macquarie City Council will provide resources to assist people with changing their address.  Addressed mail sent to Speers Point rather than Lake Macquarie will still be delivered to the correct address. Australia Post will recognise addresses for both suburbs for a period of about 12 months.  Authorities, such as Australia Post, The Australian Electoral Commission, Telstra, Hunter Water, Ausgrid, Gemena and Sensis, will be notified of any suburb change.  It generally takes between 3 and 12 months for the changes to show in private databases, such as the Roads and Maritime, Public Mapping Sector, NRMA, insurance companies, Google and other GPS databases.  Residents would have to make their own arrangements to change mailing address details on personal items such as licences, bank accounts, electricity accounts, and water accounts.  The postcode for the area named ‘Lake Macquarie’ will remain the same, 2284.  Property deed and records do not need to be changed until some future transaction, such as a property sale, takes place.  The proposed suburb boundary can be viewed online.  The geographic feature that is Speers Point will remain within Speers Point.</p>