Dover Soup Kitchen is expected to be in limbo throughout this winter before it can settle into a new base.

A planning application is being put in for a new temporary site at the Adrian Street car park after it lost its previous site at Pencester Road.

But it has not made the agenda for next Thursday's district planning meeting and organisers believe the February 23 meeting is the soonest councillors can vote on it.

Judith Shilling, DSK co-leader said: “We have to go through the whole planning process including the consultation of local residents, all of which will take several weeks.

"So getting the application heard even in February is optimistic.”

The application is being put in by Dover District Council but as usual members can vote against it, even if officers recommend it.

VIDEO: Carla talks about being homeless

And the permission for Adrian Street would only be temporary with a permanent site needed after that.

DSK, which serves up to 35 hungry people a day, is now operating its service from the boots of cars and is currently using the Stembrook car park.

This was the system the service originally used when it started in 1991.

DSK had to leave its Pencester Road base on November 30 after the 18-month temporary planning permission, from Dover District Council, was not renewed.

This was after complaints from neighbours of anti-social behaviour, such as noise and disturbance, but most of the 39 from the same two people.

The Mercury met users of the soup kitchen, described by DSK as guests, as they were fed at Stembrook.

Carly Leggatt says she has been homeless for the last two years since coming out of prison and is a self-confessed alcoholic.

She said: “Losing the soup kitchen means we’ve got nothing at all.

“If it wasn’t for this kitchen we’d be frozen to death. This soup kitchen is a chance for all these homeless people who’ve got nothing in life. What are they going to do, freeze to death?”

David Fuller is a homeless ex-soldier from the 2nd Royal Tank Regiment suffering from PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder).

He said: “I sleep in a four-man tent. I have my dog and I share the tent with a friend of mine and it's body heat that warms the tent up . But I see people here around me that are even more needy.”

He was one of two ex-soldiers the Mercury met that night, the other man did not want to be identified.

Dr Shilling said: “It’s surprisingly common in the homeless community that people will come from a military background. It’s very unfortunate that it happens. I don’t know why, if it’s through circumstance.”

She said that many were still suffering from the trauma of war.

Lyn Godfrey has been homeless since she was evicted by her landlord in a row over the condition of her accommodation.

She said; “I basically sofa surf or am on the streets, whatever I can do. It’s only the benevolence of my friend that have kept me sane and together.”