East Riding Council has written to hundreds of people who formally expressed an interest in the facility at Saltend, near Hedon, informing them the application for planning permission by waste management firm WRG had been withdrawn.

But it did not tell them the application being withdrawn was a duplicate – part of a "twin-track" application often used by developers – and that a parallel application still stands.

Robert Bottamley, of Thorn Road, Hedon, was one of the recipients.

He said: "Recipients of this letter might be forgiven for believing that WRG had abandoned its proposal. In fact, the information is entirely misleading. WRG filed twin applications, only one of which has been withdrawn.

"The question here occurs; was this badly-worded correspondence the result of mere incompetence, or was it a deliberate attempt to mislead?" Letters to East Riding Council could be left unattended for up to four months, he said. "But who knows; perhaps the officers concerned will be moved to answer this inquiry with more urgency."

The council said it would try to avoid such confusion in the future.

Customer services director Huw Roberts said: "The letter informed residents that WRG was withdrawing a redundant planning application. It's part of our process of keeping informed all stakeholders, that is those who have expressed interest, in the application.

"In future, when redundant twin tracked applications are being withdrawn, stakeholders will be provided with further clarification by the council's planning service."

Hull and East Riding Councils – which would both use the facility – gave planning consent last year but the Environment Agency later withdrew its licence to operate the plant following the threat of legal action by opponents of the scheme following a successful legal challenge to the operation of a similar plant in Sussex.