The public will be given a say on controversial plans to rename a train station near Tottenham Hotspur’s new stadium after it was revealed the proposal was at an advanced stage after intensive lobbying by the club.

The Guardian reported in March that White Hart Lane station was to be rebranded after the football club lobbied the London mayor, Sadiq Khan, and Transport for London (TfL). The transport body had been insisting the club should pay more than £14.7m for the privilege, in the face of vigorous resistance from Spurs.

The mayor’s office and Spurs had refused to confirm the plans, but correspondence released under freedom of information (FoI) indicates the name change had been due to be announced at the end of March.

TfL was even in the process of finalising an order for new station signs before the move was apparently derailed.

Additional briefing documents released under FoI show the extent to which officials recognised the name change could open the doors to further requests from companies for stations to be renamed.

“If we accept this partnership other organisations may approach TfL with similar requests,” states the note, which says the partnership with Tottenham has the potential to act as a case study and “generate a new revenue stream and support wider commercial activity”.

The Green party co-leader Siân Berry, who plans to stand against Khan in the 2020 London mayoral election, said the correspondence showed City authorities saw the deal as a way of “softening up the public” with a view to arranging similar tie-ups with other companies interested in taking over the names of rail and tube stations.

“It’s something that I would really worry about. We can’t just let a historic transport network like this be renamed by companies throwing a bit of money at them,” Berry said.

“It also looks like they were preparing to go ahead with the renaming without a public consultation. They clearly made a mistake.”

Emails between Spurs and TfL show how both were coordinating press statements for an announcement about the name change scheduled for March. The football club said it was awaiting dates and checking “player availability”.

David Burns, TfL’s head of brand licensing, wrote to Tottenham on 12 February to say there had been queries from lawyers for Network Rail, but that the rail company “should” sign a memo of understanding about the name change the following week.

“We can then quickly sign the heads of terms and thereafter announce the new name for the station,” wrote Burns, who added that TfL was getting on with finalising the order for the new station signs. The plan appears to have been to coordinate the name change with the opening of Spurs’ 62,000-capacity stadium.

Asked why the name change did not take place, Khan’s office said no decision had been finalised and discussions between TfL, Tottenham and external partners were ongoing.

It added: “If plans progress, there will be public engagement with local residents and stakeholders ahead of any renaming taking place.”

A TfL spokesperson said: “Discussions are ongoing around a potential commercial partnership with Tottenham Hotspur football club. Should all parties, including the local council, agree to the potential renaming of White Hart Lane as part of the partnership, we would engage with local stakeholders and residents to ensure that any concerns raised are properly considered.”

TfL said Haringey council had also made it clear over a number of years that it supported station renaming and it was keen to receive confirmation that the council continued to take this view.