A historic building in a popular park has been given the green light to host weddings for the first time – despite fears it could exacerbate parking issues.

Ceremonies and receptions can now be held in the cafe and billiards room at Kearsney Abbey in Temple Ewell, near Dover.

Permission has also been granted to use the site for meetings, conferences and private events.

Dover District Council submitted proposals via its own planning portal earlier this year to alter the use of the building.

In its application, the authority explained that the town of Dover only has three other venues for civil (non-religious) weddings, two of which are hotels.

The council’s heritage and support statement said: “Many people already use the parks (Kearsney Abbey is part of a trio) for wedding photos.

“We propose to offer the facility for a ceremony before they are able to move to another venue for the reception or host a small celebration at the café and billiards room.”

However, a number of residents raised fears over the impact that the application could have on parking.

They pointed out that the site’s car park is often full, with visitors leaving their vehicles along residential streets nearby. They are worried the arrival of dozens more people for a wedding will make the issue worse.

One wrote on the planning portal: “Kearsney Parks continues to market itself, through social media posts and other advertising channels, trying its best to attract more and more visitors.

“Kearsney Parks would now like to branch out into large events such as weddings and conferences, to attract an entirely different sector of visitor.

“With Kearsney's car parks at full capacity and residential roads acting as overflow car parks, where are these people going to park?”

Another resident, Michael Brooks, raised concerns over “unwanted artificial light” coming from the venue.

“This light pollution would without any doubt impact the large numbers of bird life resident in the park and additionally aid the spread of unwanted light into the nearby countryside.

“A revised proposal for daytime only events without music or ceremony only event would address these concerns.”

Despite these fears, permission was granted on July 20 for most parts of the application – which will also see alcohol served at tables at functions – with the use being granted only for the hours of 7am until 10pm, seven days a week.

However, while the original application aimed for a maximum of 60 people at a ceremony, with 40 seated, the decision notice has only granted permission for a maximum of 40 “at any one time”.

The reason for this was listed as “in the interest of the residential amenities of nearby properties and highway safety and amenity”.

It also requested a traffic management plan, including details as to how parking would be affected.

Kearsney Abbey is one of three parks in the Alkham valley, part of the Kent Downs Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.

The billiards room was originally Kearsney Manor and was extended by 2020 to include the café.

This was part of a major programme of improvements in the area in a £3.1 million National Lottery Heritage Fund project.