“Exciting” but “challenging” plans to upgrade a football club’s ageing stadium have been submitted following its promotion.

A planning application reveals how bosses want to improve the ground at Deal Town, adding a single-storey extension to existing changing rooms.

This will allow space for both home and away provisions, separate rooms for women officials and a new medical room.

It will also include a new toilet for female visitors to The Charles Ground in St Leonard’s Road.

The plans come after the club's promotion to the Isthmian South East division, which increased the ground grading requirements.

To continue playing in the league, the club must meet these requirements by March.

Currently, the Hoops’ changing room is undersized and does not meet the criteria.

Deal Town’s chairman, Natalie Benville, said: “What we didn’t want to do was change the iconic building, which is our current changing rooms, but there are areas for improvement, so we’ve taken the opportunity to upgrade it all.

“We need to ensure our facilities fit everybody who uses the ground and comply with the grading. We didn’t want to just extend the changing rooms – we wanted to look at what we needed.

“Especially for the officials because nine times out of 10, they’re not all male or all female, but they’re in the same room, so it’s just making sure they’ve got a private area to change in, a shower cubicle.

“Also, we want to make it more sustainable. You look at how things have changed over the years from when it was first built. It’s just making sure that we make it sustainable in the long run from an energy and cost perspective.

“It’s a huge outlay for us as a club and for the people that support us, so we want to make sure that it’s right.

“It’s been an eye-opener getting promoted and exciting for us to be involved with the club, welcoming new teams to Deal, and working within a new league with new requirements, so it’s been challenging but exciting at the same time.”

The design and access statement submitted by architects Smith Group states the plans will “create much-needed facilities” for the club.

The Dover-based firm added: “The design proposal seeks to create a high-quality modern extension that is clearly distinguishable from the existing building and add high-quality facilities and a women's toilet for visitors, which are currently situated in a poor-quality building.

“The character of the existing building is to be retained through sensitive refurbishment and a stepped-back ‘link’ between new and old.

“The character of the existing building is to be retained…”

“The materials selected deliver a low maintenance solution which will ensure long-term durability and robustness of the building.

“We believe the configuration and scale of the proposals, along with the contemporary pallet of materials, creates a high-quality, modern and complementary addition to the changing rooms without taking away from the quality of the existing building.

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No objections have been raised against the application, including from Deal Town Council, which was consulted as part of the plans.

A decision is expected to be made by Dover District Council early next year.

The club recently received funding to upgrade its floodlights to LED to aid the environment and manage costs.