A working men's club that has been part of a village for decades is to become a two-bed home after a couple narrowly won planning permission.

Michael and Carole Whibley, from Gravesend, say they are preparing to "start a new life" at The Rolvenden Club's former base near Tenterden.

Their bid to convert the Maytham Road building was approved by Ashford Borough Council (ABC) last week amid concerns over the use of the site.

Members of the authority's planning committee heard how the club "has been declining rapidly over the last 10 or 15 years".

The single-storey building is in the High Weald National Landscape, an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, and sits next to the Grade II-listed White House, where the club was based until 1991.

Tony Button, of the club’s committee, said the group decided to put its home up for sale two years ago.

"We have gone from a lot of members to 44 and most of them do not participate in the running of the club," he told last Wednesday’s meeting.

“Because the funds we’ve got are so low we’ve had to cease trading as of June 30.

“It will become a derelict building if we do not get something done to it.

"The application on offer I feel is very amenable and helpful to the village.

“We’ve also been in competition with three local pubs within a mile and the village hall, none of which are doing well at the moment.”

Planning documents explain the proposal will make “minimal” changes to the building itself, but will significantly change the concreted driveway and patio outside, “accompanied by an extensive addition of green space and planting”.

Rolvenden Parish Council took umbrage with the application, and Cllr Antony Hinge attended the meeting to share the authority’s concerns.

“As a designated community asset it is only morally right that this should be retained as a community asset in some form,” he said.

“The nature of the building is detrimental to the local style of building and should have its external appearance made sympathetic to local structures.

“No new-build would ever be permitted with such an appearance.”

ABC planning officers recommended that members backed the plans, however they came under fire from some.

Cllr Kate Walder (Green), who represents the area, said the club has a “proud and deep history in Rolvenden”.

“We must acknowledge that the current committee is struggling but they have refused to come to the parish council to discuss it,” she said.

“An offer for community use has been turned down and we are facing a brick wall with any kind of discussion of how we can revive its fortunes.

“This working men’s club was the site of children’s birthday parties and educational offers.”

She also raised concerns that new trees to be planted as part of the application could obscure the nearby White House from view.

“What we have in front of us is a preservation of the hideous and an obscuration of the lovely,” she said.

Cllr Linda Harman (Ash Ind) said “the applicant has definitely not tried everything” to try to keep the club running.

“There is clearly a community wish that an alternative use is found, it’s in a landscape where there is the potential for a lot of ecological work to be done,” she said.

The committee was split on their vote - six in favour of the application and six against - but the chairman used his casting vote to grant permission.

The Whibleys will now have to provide detailed landscaping plans to ABC officers, after which work on the conversion can start.

Mr Whibley, an electrical project manager, said after the meeting he was “ecstatic that it’s now becoming a reality, I’m looking forward to a new life down there”.

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He said he thought the building would look “out of place” with weatherboarding, as some on the committee had suggested.

“We were always planning to put a hedgerow around the perimeter of our property as a barrier from the sheep to us – I’ve got nothing against the sheep – but it’s to encourage the birds,” he said.

“We want to keep respect for what the building was meant to be, we like that rustic look about it.

Intending to name it the Old Clubhouse, he added: “At the moment it’s a bit of a box, but we’re going to make it look better.

“I’m not going to live in a place that’s all run-down, I'm going to go down there, get the builders myself and get it up to a high standard, I'm going to retire there for hopefully a long time.”