The plans for Pinkham Way have been overwhelming opposed by the majority of residents.

Legal concerns have forced Haringey Council to repeat a consultation relating to the proposed waste plant in Muswell Hill.

The Planning Inspectorate raised concerns in July that residents had been left out of a consultation on the major reclassification of use of the land at Pinkham Way.

But only now - two months later - has the council agreed to repeat the consultation, which could pave the way for a rubbish recycling plant to be built there.

Lynne Featherstone, MP for Hornsey and Wood Green, said: “It’s clear that at every turn local residents have been shut out of a decision on a massive development on their doorstep. Haringey Council has now been told that it cannot continue with its behind-closed-doors approach and needs to let local people have their say.”

The Planning Inspectorate said in a letter to the council that it was “not persuaded currently that the necessary legal requirements” relating to the consultation had been “discharged satisfactorily”.

The original consultation, which led to the reclassification of the land from employment to industrial use, was carried out in November last year but targeted only those who had made previous representations on a core waste strategy.

It will now be opened out to the whole borough and last for six weeks until mid October.

The North London Waste Authority (NLWA) has already submitted plans to build a plant the size of two football pitches in Pinkham Way.

But the scheme has been put on ice while the council waits for further information from developers.

A council spokeswoman said the revised consultation - separate from the NLWA scheme - will not delay this planning application still further.

She added: “This is not about consultation on the proposed waste plant nor are we being ‘forced’ or even asked to re-run a consultation. But we do want a robust core planning strategy and, having taken on board the inspector’s concerns about the document, we have taken the sensible decision to undertake additional consultation on the land designations element.”