THOUSANDS of people have shown their support for the Tweed Coast koala population by signing a petition rejecting proposed modifications to a massive housing development's Koala Plan of Management.

Leda Holdings is proposing to build Kings Forest, a 4500-residential estate between Kingscliff and Cabarita.

According to the New South Wales Planning Department, Leda Holdings is seeking to amend the Kings Forest plan by decreasing its koala habitat offsets by 14.41ha, which has left the community concerned the changes would impact the already endangered Tweed Coast koala population.

For the past six weeks, Team Koala Tweed president Jenny Hayes has been collecting signatures opposing the amendments and said thousands of residents had signed the petition.

"We've been everywhere, including Casuarina, Kingscliff, Cabarita shopping centres and we've been to Posttsville and Murwillumbah markets,” she said. "We have thousands of hand-written submissions.

"It's been an incredible amount of community support.

"It's been totally heart-warming to see so many people really do care about the last remaining koalas on the Tweed.”

But Australian Koala Foundation CEO Deborah Tabart said she had her doubts whether anything could be done to protect koalas at a governmental level, having worked closely with the planning department on the Koala Beach estate at Pottsville.

"I'm under no illusions there is any intent to protect koalas in this country at any level,” she said. "Until you've got legislation, you're just not going to see it.”

Ms Tabart said she was concerned the Kings Forest petition would fall on deaf ears. "This project has been on the books for 25 years and all that happens is that everyone keeps moving the goal posts,” Ms Tabart said.

"The plan that is going to be adjusted is watering back what happened seven years ago. It's very hard to help a group like (Team Koala).

"I haven't seen one piece of land saved.”

But Ms Hayes said she was hopeful the planning department would take into account the community's reaction to the proposed changes.

"The people have really said our koalas up here are special to us,” she said.

"The community has spoken. Some people wrote for several paragraphs, some just a few words but they all state that they really want koala habitat here.”

Ms Hayes said it was disappointing Leda Holdings was seeking to amend its plan. "We're not asking for no development, we're only asking for the development to respect koalas,” Ms Hayes said.

"This development could have been a model for the rest of the world that has koalas. The sales would have gone through the roof.

"It's really sad that these actual modifications are going to kill the koalas off.”

Leda Holdings, which is also the developer behind the proposed Cobaki development, has been contacted but declined to comment.