By BRIDGET COOK
CASEY Fields stands victorious as the preferred new name for a suburb that will take in Cranbourne East and part of Clyde North.
At a Casey Council meeting last week, councillors resolved to put out a public notice to inform residents of its intention to rename Cranbourne East and part of Clyde North as Casey Fields.
The possible name change has sparked controversy over the six months, with the community being divided over the names and many not wanting a change at all.
The council conducted a survey in July this year of all the 5122 affected property owners seeking their preferred suburb name out of Casey Fields, Cameron and Ridgway.
Cameron and Ridgway are the names of historic figures and early settlers in the Cranbourne area.
The council received 1426 responses back, with 60.1 per cent going with Casey Fields, Ridgeway coming in second with 32.2 per cent and Cameron third with 7.7 per cent.
When the survey went out, the council received two petitions with a total of more than 200 signatures, objecting to any name change.
Jean Perry, of Cranbourne East, said she and her neighbours didn’t wish to choose any and a change in name would create an inconvenience.
“We don’t want any of them,” she said.
Another local resident Colleen Jackson told the News online that Casey Fields should never have been an option as a choice of name for the new suburb.
“There’s nothing wrong with the name itself but it is already in use by a fairly well-known sporting complex,” she said.
“Imagine the outcry if a suburb was named Etihad or MCG – same thing, isn’t it?”
Cranbourne East resident Christina Mammino said she voted for Casey Fields.
“When the survey came out, I was telling my kids about it and my boy made a comment that Casey Fields makes it sound like a real sporting area,” she said.
“I agreed with him and that was the reasoning behind my vote.
“This area really is the hub of sporting facilities with Casey Fields and Casey RACE among other things.”
Ms Mammino said while Casey Fields was her pick, she would prefer no change at all.
The issue was first brought to the council’s attention in 2010, when a petition was tabled calling for the boundary between Cranbourne East and Clyde North to be moved.
On seeking advice about the boundary from the Registrar of Geographic Names, the registrar advised the council to rename the suburb to remove directional variants (north, south, east and west).
The registrar said that suburban names involving directional variants continued to cause problems for emergency services, Australia Post and service utilities.
The new suburb boundary (see picture) will run down Thompsons Road, then along Berwick Cranbourne Road, border Casey Fields sporting precinct to Ballarto Road, back down South Gippsland Highway and run along Cameron Street and Narre Warren Cranbourne Road.
The council said this was not a final decision, but a continuation of the consultation process.
A further report will come back to council at the conclusion of the public notice period, to allow residents to make submissions on the proposal.
