Campaigners trying to revive an old cinema fear a critical chance to secure its future has been lost.

The civic group The Deal Society say the three-year deadline to start work on The Regent along Deal’s seafront has just passed.

Planning permission was granted by Dover District Council (DDC) on July 18, 2019 to redevelop the historic building as a cinema.

But a Facebook post from the community group The Deal Society said this week: “A standard clause of such approval is that work must commence within three years and it has not, so the planning permission has expired.

“The permission could be extended but we have heard nothing about that happening and nothing about any development.

“We hope there will be some further news but on past experience we’re not holding our breath.”

One commentator to that post said: “It’s so sad that this has not happened, such a great building.”

Those hoping to bring the building back to life have long complained about its decaying state.

Fay Franklin, chairman of Reopen the Regent action group, said: “Before planning consent was approved in 2019, Reopen the Regent called for the development to have an end date as well as a start date.

“Three years on, The Regent is still falling apart at the seams and today - as we now know - is a tinderbox waiting to ignite.”

Deal resident Andy Hamshare, who supports the re-use as a cinema, added: “I am worried.

“An important deadline has been missed.

“I think Dover District Council should now step in and instruct the owners to complete repair works or even carry out a compulsory purchase.

“I would ideally like to see the building in multi-use for example as a cinema, exhibition centre or another place for Deal Museum to display artefacts.”

The Regent, in Victoria Parade, first opened in 1928 as a concert hall for military bands.

It became the Regent Cinema in 1933 but shut in 1963.

It later became a bingo hall and that closed in 2009. It has been derelict since then.

Owners James Wallace and Mark Digweed were granted planning permission to reopen the cinema with two screens and a restaurant in 2019 after purchasing the freehold in 2011.

But one planning condition was that the work must begin in three years.

The building was further damaged when it caught fire in June, though firefighters were able to quickly bring it under control.

Members of Reopen the Regent gathered in May this year to send out a 'Mayday' distress call over the state of the building, which is next to the town's Timeball Tower.

A spokesman for the council said of the expired application: "Once a planning application has expired, it cannot then be extended.

"Whilst the council is not the owner of The Regent building, we continue to maintain contact with the owners and to do all we can to encourage them to take appropriate plans for this location forward."

The owners have been contacted to comment on what the future might be for the building now.