Opponents of a proposed overhaul of the state's planning laws fear the NSW government is preparing to bypass Parliament and use special powers to implement the controversial reforms.

Last November, the government refused to allow a vote on significant amendments to its planning bill demanded by the upper house. Labor, the Greens and the Shooters and Fishers Party combined to seek removal of controversial rules that would force councils to approve developments in high-growth areas, which meet agreed requirements, within 25 days and with no community appeal rights. They also sought to quash a policy that made the economic benefit of large mining projects the main consideration in the approval process.

Considering all options: NSW Planning Minister Brad Hazzard. Credit:Dean Osland

At the time, Planning Minister Brad Hazzard announced the government would take three months to consider the changes. But according to the Newcastle Herald on Monday, Premier Barry O'Farrell told a media conference in Maitland that Mr Hazzard would ''get on and seek to deliver those changes using the existing powers that Labor gave the planning ministers''.

Chief executive of the Nature Conservation Council of NSW, Pepe Clarke, said Mr O'Farrell's comments signalled the government was seeking to circumvent Parliament to force through the new planning laws. ''The proposed laws were unfair and unbalanced, placing the interests of developers and the mining industry before local communities and the environment,'' he said. ''The community will vigorously oppose attempts by government to sidestep Parliament and impose damaging changes to the planning system through non-legislative means.''