As the fate of one pub hangs in the balance, big plans are being made for two others to be turned into new homes.

Campaigners who last month saw the popular pub The Battle of Britain in Coldharbour Road, Northfleet, demolished without council permission and under the cover of darkness are still awaiting the results of an application to turn it into a community asset.

As an asset, it will have greater protection from developers and it could mean those who knocked it down are forced to rebuild it brick by brick.

There was a previous application for homes on the site, but that has now lapsed. Those behind the campaign to have the pub rebuilt, led by Tina Brooker of The Warren, Gravesend, suspect developers still want to put much more lucrative homes on the site.

Two applications have now gone in to Gravesham council to turn two other pubs into homes.

The Pilot in East Terrace, Gravesend, has been closed for four years. Its former landlady Susan Newman remained there and rather than tear it down is now hoping to bring the building, which is in dire need of some repair, back to its former glory.

Having lived in the area for 27 years, and keen not to move, she said: “It’s a lovely building, but it needs work and I’d like to be able to bring back the beauty it once was.

“Turning it into flats is the only way I can fund that, while still living here myself.”

Currently there is one home in the building, above the pub, but the plan is to create two one bedroom apartments, and one two bedroom home.

The Stork At Rest in Stacey Close, Gravesend, is another one which could be turned into homes, but it would mean demolition.

It closed in 2013 and an application has been submitted for six new homes.

Two previous planning applications have gone in and been refused – one for 10 houses, and another for eight – due to a lack of car parking, a detrimental impact on the appearance of the area, and the privacy of neighbours.

Submitted by Shaf Rahman, the new application aims to tackle the previous reservations by the council.

It has two parking spaces per four bedroom home, and eight cycle spaces.

Camra, the Campaign for Real Ale, an independent body which campaigns for community pubs and consumer rights, has fought for The Crown and Thistle pub in The Terrace, Gravesend, to be listed as a community asset and has also applied to Gravesham council for the Battle of Britain to be listed too. A decision will be made before Christmas.