The Heritage Council of NSW says "several" major developments in Newcastle have failed to produce final archaeological reports, leading to "negative" heritage outcomes.
But Heritage NSW says it cannot identify the non-compliant redevelopment projects due to "privacy issues".
The issue has come to light after Heritage NSW, a division of the state Department of Planning, wrote a letter to City of Newcastle on the proposed final stages of Iris Capital's redevelopment in the Hunter Street Mall.
The Heritage NSW letter lays out its requirements for Iris to proceed with archaeological monitoring and excavation for stages three and four, which are yet to be approved.
The letter notes that the developer had its excavation permit for stage two of the EastEnd project revoked in October 2021 for failing to comply with conditions covering test excavations.
The developer was granted a new permit and completed the test digging.
Heritage NSW says in its letter to the council that the developer must lodge all final archaeological excavation reports before being granted an occupation certificate for stages three and four.
"The results of the archaeological excavation are an important part of documenting, reporting on and explaining the results of the excavation and explaining those results to the broader community," the letter says.
"The Heritage Council of NSW notes several major archaeological excavations approved for development within Newcastle have failed to produce final excavation reports and this has resulted in a negative heritage outcome."
Asked to identify which major projects had not produced excavation reports, Heritage NSW said it could not provide information about "compliance outcomes" due to privacy matters.
The final stages of the EastEnd project have encountered strong resistance from the National Trust, Newcastle Club, Anglican Dean Katherine Bowyer and community groups over the destruction of a 19th century timber house on the site and view impacts.
The Heritage NSW letter says the Iris site is at the edge of the original convict and early town areas of Newcastle, centred around Watt Street.
"It has been assessed that there is little potential for intact remains (including early burials) relating to the original convict settlement within the subject site (1804 to early 1820)," it says.
"Any such remains would likely be of state significance.
"It has been assessed that there is low to moderate potential for archaeological remains from the early town development period, dating from 1823 to 1850.
"If intact, these remains would be of local significance."
