A local conservation group hopes the delay in a decision on the future of the Manyana Special Conservation Reserve is good news.
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Members of the Manyana Matters Environmental Association, last week, were all set to finally hear if their marathon efforts to save a block of land in Manyana from being developed had worked.
Then came the news that the Federal Government's Department of the Environment won't be announcing its decision until July 31.
This is the second time a decision has been delayed.
President of the Manyana Matters Environmental Association, BIll Eger, hopes the delay means the department is being thorough when it comes to the decision-making process.
"I like to think the delay is reassuring and means the department is not just rubber-stamping the decision away," Mr Eger said.
Some 182 lots are planned for the 20-hectare Manyana site which was one of the few blocks of land saved during Black Summer.
Mr Egar said the block is full of important plants and animal species.
He says the trauma people will experience, if the land is bulldozed, would be terrible.
"Local people are hopeful and in-fact, people from all over the Shoalhaven that I run into also want to keep it [the block] and protect it from being overdeveloped," he said.
The due date for the decision was extended in April 2024 to June 30, originally, because the environmental department required further time to review the extensive assessment material, including public feedback and is now expected by the end of this month [July].
The community started its fight to save the block in 2020.
Mr Egar said the possible discovery of a rare plant was another one of the many reasons why the association is fighting to save the land.
There is a suggestion that the magenta lilly pilly which is listed as vulnerable under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act is growing on the block.
Mr Egar said they had just contacted the Department of the Environment to get some urgent genetic testing on the plant in question.
Nobody knows what the decision will be, but one thing Mr Egar does know is that the Manyana Matters Environmental Association, the local community and many others have done every in their power to save the land.
