A final decision will be made early next year on whether a massive incinerator will be built in Wisbech.
MVV Environment wants to burn 500,000 tonnes of waste a year at a new plant on an industrial estate on the outskirts of town.
It would be converted into energy for local businesses, by a plant which would be one of the biggest of its kind in Europe.
Now the Planning Inspectorate, which oversees so-called nationally significant developments, has said it will make its recommendation on whether or not the scheme should go ahead by November 21.
A final decision will then be announced within three months.
The inspectorate's recommendation will go before Claire Coutinho, the new secretary of state for energy security and net zero, who replaced Grant Shapps when he was made defence secretary in a cabinet reshuffle last week.
Plans for the £300m burner, on land off Algores Way, have been met with strong opposition over environmental and health concerns.
A Fenland District Council spokesman said: "Fenland District Council fundamentally oppose this incinerator application and we are utilising any and all legal avenues and processes available to continue to fight on behalf of the residents of Wisbech and Fenland as a whole."
READ MORE: Wisbech incinerator protest at County Hall in Norwich
READ MORE: Public hearings start on Wisbech incinerator plan
In February 2020 Fenland wrote to the energy secretary making clear its opposition to plans to build an incinerator in Wisbech.
A series of public hearings were held by the Planning Inspectorate throughout 2023, during which council representatives put forward technical arguments against the proposal.
Both Norfolk and Cambridgeshire county councils oppose the scheme, along with West Norfolk, which led the successful campaign to stop an incinerator being built in King's Lynn 10 years ago.
If approved, the incinerator would be built at the Algores Way Industrial Estate near the A47.
The site is close to a school and land earmarked for hundreds of new homes.
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