"I lodged a motion that essentially was just asking for the State Government to be the negotiator with the developer," she posted on the Manyana Matters Facebook page

"It didn't really move the issue on other than to put that responsibility firmly with [Planning ] Minister Stokes and so that there was no yes minister finger pointing about whose job it was."

The original motion was aimed at supporting the community driven campaign to save a piece of unburnt bush from being developed.

The mayor wrote she was concerned the "Watson bloc of councillors" would try to render the motion either useless or so negatively that it might have an impact on the outcome of Friday's court case.

"In my opinion the Watson bloc of councillors will do whatever it takes to keep this block of land in the mix for development.

"I base my opinion on my past experiences with them and if you watched or listened to the meeting tonight you would have clearly heard the overtones to confirm that," she wrote.

"What I don't want to do is jeopardise in any way the great progress that has been made so far."

Cr Andrew Guile, who is opposed to council trying to intervene to save the forest, denied there was a voting bloc.

"That's just ridiculous. There's no bloc on this. Councillors have voted differently on this," he said.

Had the motion been put to the committee, he said he would have opposed it.

"The cost to buy the block could be up to $30 million," Cr Guile said.

He said any moratorium on approved developments would turn off investment across the Shoalhaven.

"Our city relies on development without a doubt," he said.