Nigel Graham, managing director of Sonae Industria (UK) Ltd, said the decision was taken “with great sadness and regret”.

“The decision is the result of long delays to the reconstruction of the factory due to the political and planning difficulties and the reduced and unsustainable capacity levels that have ensued,” he said.

No further manufacturing would take place at the plant after September 14 and all but a small element of the workforce left the company on that date,” said Mr Graham.

“This decision to close has been taken extremely reluctantly and only after exhaustive efforts to resolve the political and planning impasse.

We have a loyal and committed workforce and our employees have been doing everything in their power to maintain operations.

“Unfortunately, however, our trading position is no longer commercially viable. We’d like to thank our staff, supply chain and customers for their continued support during this difficult time.”

Sonae Industria intends to continue supplying the UK market from its other plants throughout Europe.