Save the Guana Cay lobby has come out ahead in a skirmish with the Passerine at Abaco development, but it is still to be determined who will win the war. A Court of Appeal order Wednesday overturned an earlier ruling by the Supreme Court, which allowed the work on the Cay to progress, sending it back to the Supreme Court to be reheard before Jan. 31, 2006.

This is what democracy is all about. Everyone must be allowed to have their day in court and they must be heard, otherwise the system is a mockery.

Up to now the developers were going ahead full tilt with their $500 million project, with little regard to what the Guana Cay Reef Association and other environmentalists were saying about the irreparable destruction that would be wrought on the pristine conditions that exists in the Cays of Abaco and throughout the chain of Bahamian islands.

When Prime Minister Perry Christie on March 1 signed the agreement to allow the development to proceed, he said the Government was not prepared to compromise in its commitment to protecting the pristine environment of The Bahamas. However, residents of that community claim that the project will destroy the "natural, pristine beauty of the Cay.

They have complained that the development will destroy the barrier reef and the entire eco-system in the Abacos and will make the islands even more susceptible during the June-November months of the Atlantic Hurricane season. Hurricanes Frances and Jeanne last year and Wilma this year are testaments to the destruction and devastation these weather systems leave in their wake.

The Passerine development is a project proposed by Discovery Land Company, which plans to develop 650 acres, which will include a 399-acre, 18 hole golf course, a 240-slip marina, along with 459 homes and other amenities, the kind of infrastructure that could prove destructive to the pristine conditions that The Bahamas seeks to preserve.

The Prime Minister had also said the developers promised to set up a watchdog foundation to oversee the protection of the island's eco-system, to ensure that the wetlands and the mangroves are not being filled in and cut off from the natural flow of the sea, maintaining natural habitats and breeding grounds for fish and other marine animals.

However, the Save Guana Cay Association felt that this was not being done and sought a Judicial Review of the Heads of Agreement, through the courts. In May the Association's injunction was dismissed by a Supreme Court Justice who said the Association had no standing before the court "because it was neither a landowner nor a resident with any interest directly affected by the development.

There is no guarantee the Passerine development will be permanently stopped or if it will be allowed to continue after the two months given by the Court of Appeal to allow all parties to have "all their ducks lined up' and properly licenced before January 2006 rolls around. But as the Association's lawyer Fred Smith said, "the environment in Guana Cay will be protected until such time when the case is heard."

That could be some ways off as Mr Smith intends to go to the Privy Council, if necessary.