It follows a $350,000 joint funding announcement by the state government and Port Macquarie-Hastings Council for the dredging work.

The council at its February meeting formally accepted the $175,000 state government grant and allocated council funding to meet its 50 per cent funding requirement towards the dredging project.

The council agreed to reallocate $53,000 from the Maintenance of 4WD Access Points Reserve for use in dredging of Lake Cathie.

The remainder of the council’s contribution will be drawn from Lake Cathie Dredging Reserve ($70,000), Floodplain Management Strategy ($12,000), Climate Change Strategy ($30,000) and riparian vegetation ($10,000).

Dredging, which is expected to take about four weeks, is planned to start in late May.

The council also adopted the Lake Cathie Foreshore Masterplan. 

Staff members, through the masterplan process, have been able to gauge the foreshore reserve’s importance to the community and the level of concern about the reserve erosion.

Erosion has eaten away about 3000 square metres of the reserve since mid-2016.

A report to the council meeting said one of the key actions in the masterplan was a reclaimed sandy beach.

“Community engagement activities undertaken to date have identified this as one of the highest priority plan actions for the community,” the report said.

The plan is to use the dredged sand to reclaim the area of foreshore reserve lost through erosion.

Surplus dredged sand will be used to nourish the erosion hotspot of Lake Cathie beach along the Illaroo Road frontage.

A Crown licence is required to allow for dredging within the lower estuary.

An application has been lodged and approval is anticipated soon.

A Review of Environmental Factors has been undertaken for the project.

Tenders close on March 15 for dredging and beach nourishment at Lake Cathie.