The residents of the rural oasis nestled next to the bustling airport just pray they'll be heard.

For Pialligo Residents' Association president Bob Ross yesterday's announcement of the master plan process for the unique suburb represents a vital step in the march to protect the area.

Mr Ross's property is part of a suburb full of pretty nurseries, vineyards and orchards. He can trace his family ties to Pialligo back to 1952. His 85-year-old mother-in-law, Enid, a long-time resident of the suburb, still does her cooking on a fuel stove.

Pialligo residents and business owners feel this rural atmosphere is worth preserving and so the group is prepared to fight development in the area.

Mr Ross opposes the proposal for the Majura Parkway, renewed talk of a ''very high speed train'' running through the suburb, and the prospect of Pialligo becoming a light industrial area. The train, especially, he said yesterday, would be ''the death of the suburb''.

The ACT Planning and Land Authority will, according to Mr Barr, take into account a plan the Pialligo Residents' Association devised.

For more read today's Canberra Times.