A spokeswoman for the office of the Attorney General, Brad Hazzard, told The Daily Advertiser yesterday discussions had taken place with Member for Wagga Daryl Maguire about the building's future.

"We are working on the issue and expect to make an announcement soon," the spokeswoman said.

While he wouldn't elaborate on what that announcement might be, Mr Maguire said he immediately approached Mr Hazzard when he took over the role of Attorney General to ensure progress continued to be made.

The development application for the redevelopment was submitted to Wagga City Council in May last year and, despite conceding the project had "dragged on a little bit", Mr Maguire said the next step wasn't far away.

"There's been some interest (to do the work)," he said.

Design issues have plagued the long-awaited upgrade, with scaled back plans revealed in June last year removing an entire third storey from the project, budgeted at $17 million.

The Southern Joint Regional Planning Panel approved a development application for the project in October, where it was revealed the price of progress would include demolishing a piece of history.

Several items of significant heritage value, including a 1903 caretaker's cottage now used as a sheriff 's office, will be torn down to make way for a two-storey building facing Sturt Street that will include new court rooms and other badly-needed facilities.

Previous reports have indicated the upgrade would take about 18 months to complete.

What the courthouse will have:

■ Two trial courts

■ Two local courts

■ Two tribunal rooms

■ New registry

■ Safe room for victims of domestic violence

■ Two remote witness rooms

■ Interview rooms

■ Larger public waiting area with more seating