Known as the North London Heat and Power Project, the development will replace the EcoPark’s existing energy from waste plant, which has operated for around 45 years but comes to the end of its life in 2025.

Following the development of the delivery strategy, construction preparation work could start in 2019.

The existing plant would be decommissioned and demolished once the new facility is up and running by 2028.

It will have the capacity to treat up to 700,000 tonnes of waste a year from households in the seven surrounding boroughs of Barnet, Camden, Enfield, Hackney, Haringey, Islington and Waltham Forest.

The North London Waste Authority claims the new plant will use leading technology to control emissions to air, which will be “the same as or even lower than the existing facility, making it one of the best performing in Europe”.

It said: “NLWA is committed to improving air quality in north London. The replacement facility would use today’s leading technology when controlling emissions, making the facility capable of achieving levels of 60% below the current permissible limits for nitrogen oxides.”

A DCO is awarded to any development classified as a nationally significant infrastructure project, and is intended to speed up and simplify the planning process.