Security at South Norwood pool has been blasted after Croydon Council admitted costly materials were stolen from the site by an organised gang.

Valuable copper piping and sinks were stolen during a raid which contributed to damage that will cost taxpayers £583,000 to put right. Police have been informed and an investigation has been launched.

Last week the council said it did not know if some of the damage had been caused during a raid to plunder scrap metal and other sellable material from the pool which was left empty after the council halted a plan to build a new one.

But at a meeting of the council's cabinet committee at the town hall on Monday, Anthony Middleton, divisional director for assets and facilities management, said: "It does appear it was organised vandalism through an organised gang and we are now pursuing that with the police."

The site was patrolled every three hours by security guards, but it is believed a gang, who were after the copper because its price has rocketed in recent years, found it so easy to get inside they were even able to put their own padlock on the back gate.

Tony Newman, leader of the Labour opposition, said: "If the council knew there was this valuable copper inside then the security should have been better. It was not adequate enough.

"Whether this is down to crass incompetence or appalling political management, the taxpayers of Croydon are now out of pocket to the tune of more than £1million on this project."

It was also confirmed that, despite signs around the pool saying it will open this spring, the completion date has been delayed until late September due to a combination of the vandalism and bad weather that stopped scaffolding being put up.