A bed and breakfast owner fears she could be made destitute by a council decision to refuse her planning permission.

Linda Russell has been running the Medway Little Townhouse in Love Lane, Rochester, for three years, but had to apply to officially change the use of the building when she applied for new dormer windows needed to expand the building.

The expansion would have given her one more room but the application sparked complaints from neighbours who said the B&B was already causing problems with parking and noise on the narrow street.

Speaking this week she said she was determined to appeal the decision.

“I think it’s totally unreasonable,” said Mrs Russell, 67. “I’m not sure what it means but if they stop me I’m destitute.

“I was so upset and I’ve been tremendously depressed. I’ve been crying at night. Without the B&B I can’t afford the mortgage.”

Council planners said they had refused permission on the grounds that the dormer design was not in keeping with the terraced houses on the street and that the bed and breakfast use causes “harm to the amenity of neighbours”.

But Mrs Russell said permission had recently been given
for “ghastly” new homes across the street, and that her guests were not noisy.

“I’ve had high-ranking civil servants stay and people from King’s School,” she said. “It was doing well. I’ve had return customers, the cathedral uses me.

“I have some workmen but I’ve asked them to park their vans down the road. We don’t have riff-raff because they can’t afford it.”

And she said the rules on whether you needed permission to operate as a B&B remained unclear, as she was not sure whether competitors or those operating through online site Airbnb needed permission.

“All I wanted was to create a single room for myself,” she said. “I’m sleeping in a basement room.

“I never thought there would be a problem getting permission.

“If they’re turning me down, I want to know why they’re not doing the same to the one down the road.

“We’re trying to build Rochester as a tourist centre and they’re trying to destroy one of the best B&Bs.”