More than 60 letters have been written against controversial plans to replace a gliding club base with two homes.

The Channel Gliding Club site in Waldershare, near Dover, has been out of use since its lease expired and the glider group itself closed down after four decades.

Now scores of people have protested against a planning application for the homes, which they say means the loss of a much-loved sporting facility.

The land, on the Waldershare Estate at Sandwich Road, Waldershare, is owned by the Earl and Countess of Guilford.

They want to replace the clubhouse with a holiday let and an estate worker's home. The airstrip would be re-used as farmland.

The application will be discussed by the Dover District Council planning committee tomorrow (Thursday).

Protesters also say that most airfields lost never return and that there are plenty of hotels and bed and breakfast houses for tourists.

By last Saturday 65 letters of objection were sent to the council's planning portal.

Richard Watts wrote: "It's a real shame to see such a nice gliding club disappear in favour of housing. Clubs like this bring the community together."

Nick Toy said: "There is the loss of the social and sporting facility of the club. Too many airfields these days are being taken over for housing, leading to the UK falling behind other countries in the aviation sector.

"Gliding is an environmentally clean form of recreational aviation, with very low emissions, very little noise. This facility needs to be preserved for the good of the area."

Gavin Short said: "This would seem to be a step to reduce tourism and local commerce that glider pilots, their families and visitors bring to the region."

Josephine Mordaunt said: "This gliding club was a wonderful sports facility to have in the area. Once lost it cannot be replaced.

"Dover council should be supporting such a facility. In spite of its small size, this Waldershare club produced world-class glider pilots."

Channel Gliding Club had used the land since it got planning permission for the clubhouse in 1986.

It mainly flew members of the public, with families coming from all over Kent and beyond to get a birds-eye view of the countryside, sea and White Cliffs of Dover. One instructor flew more than 300 people in 15 years.

The group explains the lease was not renewed so it folded and moved out last October.

It had about 30 members by then and some have since joined a new club in Lenham near Maidstone.

A club spokesman told KentOnline: "The majority of members have just given up. It was a horrible thing to happen, very unexpected and cost individuals large sums of money to relocate to another club."

A letter to the council from application agents Finn's, of Sandwich, said: "The estate has been looking for several years at ways to better manage the ongoing high costs associated with many listed buildings and the associated land.

"It has considered re-use of other listed buildings as well as new build development to enable fund creation for the ongoing estate management and upkeep.

"It (the development) will have no harmful impact on the character of the countryside and will result in lower traffic movements than are associated with the gliding club use.

"The proposals will also provide a public benefit by improving the range of holiday accommodation available within Dover district."

Council planning officers are recommending that members approve the scheme.

They say that it is unlikely to have a negative impact on the wider landscape.

The application will be debated at the DDC planning committee meeting from 6pm on Thursday at the council headquarters at the White Cliffs Business Park, Whitfield.