The committee will be made up of representatives from the Port Macquarie Ratepayers Association, council and Port Shores. It will identify the priority canal maintenance works and ways to fund them, as well as liaise with Settlement Shores residents on the various options.

With an estimated $2 million cost to dredge and restore the canals to their original design profiles, just who will fund rehabilitation works and how it’s done has always been a major sticking point.

The original canal maintenance working party was formed in 1996 but despite its provision of a list of recommendations, a course of action was never determined.

Barry Lewis, a resident of the area, addressed the council at its meeting on Tuesday night, saying council drainage easements into the canals were the main source of the siltation problem.

When asked by Cr Daphne Johnston if he felt the canals should be maintained by the council as it maintained roads, Mr Lewis would only say that canal residents had contributed substantial amounts over time.

“Over the years residents have made high contributions in terms of rates and the amounts from jetties and ramps, and most of the problems are from council easements,” he said.

Cr Jim Pearson asked Mr Lewis if he thought residents would be willing to make an annual contribution of $315 per property to be matched by council over a ten-year period, in order to raise $2.5 million for maintenance purposes.

“We don’t have the money and we have to find a way forward,” Cr Pearson said.

“What is the situation regarding contributions from people in these areas?”

Mr Lewis said this was something that would need to be determined during a process of community consultation.

But he said the community was fully behind the reconvening of the working party.