The New Addington recycling centre will remain closed for an extra two weeks after the £160,000 worth of upgrades were unable to be completed on time.

Fishers Farm Household Reuse and Recycling Centre closed on November 27 and had initially said it would be re-open by December 10.

The company today (December 13) announced that the original planned two-week closure had to be extended by one week "when ground conditions proved to be more challenging than anticipated."

This meant that the entire site has to be resurfaced.

Now the closure has been extended again due to the adverse weather conditions.

The site is operated by Veolia on behalf of Croydon Council and the South London Waste Partnership and Veolia's contract manager for south London, Christine Stacey, said: “I am very sorry that for a second time we have had to extend the closure of Fishers Farm HRRC.

"The weather we’ve experienced on site has been extremely cold over the last seven days and this has delayed the project.

“The entire site needs to be resurfaced.

"Pouring concrete when temperatures are below 3ºC is very challenging and takes much longer.

"Once the temperature drops below zero, freshly-poured concrete can be damaged to such an extent that it will be unfit for use.

"We are working very hard with our contractors to ensure the new and improved HRRC is able to welcome residents through its gates from 9am on Saturday December 23.”

Councillor Stuart Collins said he is determined to see the recycling centre open before Christmas

“Although the weather has been a factor in the delays to this upgrade, Fishers Farm needs to reopen before Christmas for our residents," he said.

"Council officers are in daily contact with our contractors to make sure there are no further delays.”