A 200 year old cottage and smokery will be demolished and replaced with a property twice the size.

Dungeness residents are furious at Shepway District Council’s decision to give planning consent for Pearl Cottage and the Old Smokery to be knocked down.

Fisherman David Tart whose family have lived in the village for several generations attended the planning committee meeting.

As well as concern about the plans Mr Tart was also angry about a comment made by a councillor describing Dungeness as “a tip”.

Mr Tart said: “The new property will be double the size of Pearl Cottage. It is that and its appearance, including glass tunnels linking parts of the new house, that we have all objected to.

“There were more than 30 objections including Lydd Town Council. The development is not in keeping with other properties on Dungeness Estate, a site of special scientific interest.

“The footprint of the new house will include the footprint of the existing 200 year old cottage, the conservatory at the back that never had planning permission, plus the wooden sheds. I can see a lot of people putting up wooden sheds just to increase the size of the property.

“It’s the message that this approval sends out that worries us, our young people cannot afford to buy a property here. A few years ago you even had to get permission to change the colour of your door on Dungeness Estate."

Mr Tart said that a silence fell over the council chamber after one of the councillor asked if was he the only one in the room that thinks Dungeness is a tip.

Sarah Smith of Shepway District Council said: “We can find no record of Mr Tart’s letter to Cllr Bliss arriving at the Civic Centre, he would be pleased to respond if it could be re-sent.

“Our planning officers obviously considered the site’s location before making their recommendation which included comments from Natural England.

“We cannot comment on remarks made by individual councillors at the meeting. In a democracy they are entitled to voice their opinions.”