One council is looking to buy some prime waterfront real estate for the cost of a dollar.

An Extraordinary Meeting of the Port Macquarie Hastings Council (PMHC) this week discussed plans for the purchase and development of a prominent piece of land near Port Macquarie's town centre.

The NSW Government has given its approval for an ‘in principle’ sale of a piece of waterfront Crown Land – the Plaza Carpark.

Local Mayor Peter Besseling says the council will consider its submission of an Expression of Interest (EOI) for the development site.

“Council will ask the NSW Government to consider transferring the site to Council ownership for a nominal fee of $1, to enable Council funding to be spent specifically on improvements to the site” he told ABC reporters before the meeting.

“The Council's keen to see that this land is kept in public hands, it was reserved in 1969 for the purposes of public car parking.

“We want to see that it's kept in public hands and that any development on that site will be for the benefit of the community.

“The money received from that development would go back into the community for the long term.

“We will put forward an ‘Expressions of Interest’ that will look at not only improved car parking there but also improved pedestrian activity in the CBD.

“Also some commercial activity that will help drive improvements over the foreshore in the long-term,” he said.