THE New South Wales Department of Planning has defended its actions after one of Australia's richest developers challenged its commitment to the Tweed.

During the NSW Premier's Tweed visit last month, Leda Holdings executive chairman Bob Ell, whose company is behind the massive proposed Cobaki and Kings Forest estates, aired his frustration with the NSW Planning Department, blaming on-going staff changes for not allowing him to start building.

Mr Ell asked the Premier to consider merging the planning approval processes at all three levels of government.

But a planning department spokesperson said: "There is no requirement ... to merge any Council, State and Federal approvals into a single document".

"The Department has granted Stage 1 Project approvals for bulk earthworks and infra- structure provision on both sites," the spokesperson said.

"Leda has been able to act on these approvals since that time, subject to meeting environmental management conditions to ensure the developments do not adversely impact on the local environment."