Mr Lobsey said deeds for the Swan Street site showed a sandstone retaining wall and railway platform had existed on the land as early as the 1830s.

Councillors approved plans for a 

two-storey office block at the site last night despite Mr Lobsey’s plea for them to consider the new evidence.

He obtained the deeds from NSW Land and Property Information yesterday, hours before councillors voted on the development ­application.

“The deeds go back to the original sale in 1831,” he said.

“On the deeds there is a site plan that shows the hotel and the retaining wall, which were also identified on the 1862 railway plan.”

Mr Lobsey believed one of Australia’s only private rail platforms could be at the site.

“This evidence further adds to our hypothesis that the stone platform has been there since before the 1850s,” he said.

“It means there are archeological relics on the site.”

Developer Paul La Mottie argued that the wall at the Swan Street site was newer than the structure depicted on the plans Mr Lobsey obtained.

“We are not proposing to damage the wall. It will still be clearly visible and accessible,” he said.

“A great deal of work has gone into this development. It will not harm this wall.”

Mr Lobsey requested an Interim Heritage Order to protect the land until further investigation of the site’s heritage significance took place.

But a council report said that was beyond the reach of local government.

The meeting heard that the developer, Mr La Mottie, undertook the research of the site. 

He had enlisted a registered heritage architect, qualified surveyor and chartered structural engineer who conducted extensive research at the site. 

They found there were insufficient grounds to reject the development application because the sandstone structure was a retaining wall that had minimal heritage significance and no link to Morpeth’s heritage rail corridor.