Countryside campaigners are calling for planning officers not to grant planning permission for development on the Western Heights.

The committee will meet at the district council offices in Whitfield today to debate the plan for 521 houses, a 90-home retirement village and a large hotel.

The Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE) said it will cause “untold damage to an area of outstanding natural beauty”.

The plan was agreed in June last year but the £5 million section 106 agreement is yet to be finalised.

It has been drawn up between parties which have legal or other interests in the development.

Derek Wanstall, Dover district chairman for CPRE, said: “This plan would cause significant, irreversible harm to this beautiful and historic landscape.

“We do not believe that there are exceptional circumstances which justify this destruction.

“The planning committee now has an opportunity to reassess and protect this important area.”

It applicant had £5 million to pay for the conversion of the Drop Redoubt at the Western Heights into a museum and visitor centre but this agreement has not yet been finalised.

A draft agreement, to be considered by the committee, proposes the payment is phased, depending on people moving into the homes.

Mr Wanstall said: “Linking the bulk of the payment to the most sensitive part of the site just rubs salt into the wounds.

“This is a complex agreement, which should see the full £5 million paid over a period of years.

“I am not sure that this drip-feeding of contributions, which could be turned off by the developer if development stops, will secure the improvements to the Drop Redoubt sought.

“We would question that it provides the certainty of funding required and provides any justification for the council’s continued support of the development.”