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Campaigners who thought they had seen the last of a £50m incinerator expansion plan may have to wait more than a year to find out if the idea really has been defeated.

Nottingham City Council refused permission to enlarge Eastcroft incinerator enabling it to increase the amount of waste it burns by 66%.

The council said the plan did not fit in with regeneration plans for the city's eastside.

But incinerator owners WRG have now been given official permission to appeal against the decision.

Campaigners have reacted angrily to WRG's refusal to accept rejection of its expansion plan which would allow it to burn an extra 100,000 tonnes of rubbish a year on top of its current 150,000 tonnes.

Jon Beresford, of anti-incinerator group Nottingham Against Incineration and Landfill (Nail), said: "The people of Nottingham said 'no' to it, we had a petition of more than 3,000 names opposing it. WRG should accept the democratic process."

But, in a letter to Nail, WRG said it did not feel reasons for the expansion's rejection were "justifiable" on planning grounds.

It said the council did not challenge the fact that an extension to the incinerator off London Road was explicitly supported in the long-term waste management strategies of both the city and county councils.

The Government's Planning Inspectorate has accepted that WRG's grounds for appealing are valid, said Mike Senior, of the council's planning department.

"WRG has asked for a public inquiry. That would be normal for something as big as this," he added.

The council has until November 30 to supply additional arguments as to the reasons behind its refusal of planning permission.

If the inquiry goes ahead, each party will have to fund its own legal costs. If the council won it could ask WRG to pay its costs, and vice-versa. But there are no guarantees an inspector will make such an order.

Other parties, such as Nail, will be able to speak for or against WRG's plan at the inquiry.

A spokesman for the Planning Inspectorate said the public inquiry could take nine to ten months to organise due to the preparatory work needed, site visits and meetings with different parties.

A WRG spokesman said: "WRG's planning application to extend the Eastcroft facility was explicitly supported by Nottingham City Council's own Waste Local Plan.

"The company therefore feels a planning appeal is a perfectly proper route to go down in circumstances such as these when we do not agree with the council's decision."