The letter was to Ron Lee, who had approached Hunter Water about buying land he had sold back.

It said Hunter Water was not selling any of the land until the new Lower Hunter Water Plan was complete:

“Whilst I acknowledge your contract does contain a Right of First Refusal provision, Hunter Water's Board has not at the current time endorsed the sale of any land acquired pursuant to the Tillegra Dam Project.

“Hunter Water is currently establishing scope of the new Lower Hunter Water Plan and the potential implication for landholdings at Tillegra.

“As such it would be inappropriate to sell any land at the current time.”

Premier Barry O’Farrell and Hunter Water have stated that the Tillegra Dam project has been scrapped, but the letter has left the No Tillegra Dam group with questions.

No Tillegra Dam group chairwoman Carol Parsenow called on Mr O’Farrell to take charge of the situation and force Hunter Water to sell back the land.

“The only sure way to end the Tillegra Dam saga is to immediately commence the process of selling the land back for agricultural use,” she said.

“Questions now need to be asked as to why the previous Managing Director of Hunter Water and its Board have ignored directives to sell the land in the Tillegra precinct.”

Greens MP John Kaye made a call for documents relating to the Tillegra land in NSW Parliament to spare the No Tillegra Dam Group the cost of a Freedom of Information Request.

"Hunter Water has never really let go of the Tillegra Dam project despite the comprehensive rejection it received from the Department of Planning, the former Labor government and the Coalition,” he said

"Unless the O'Farrell government wants to be accused of reneging on its election promise to keep Tillegra Dam off the agenda, Finance and Services Minister Greg Pearce must step in.

“He has to get control over Hunter Water before it runs amuck and leaves him with another Tillegra crisis on his hands.”