A group hoping to build a new community sports centre have been left angry and confused after a decision to reallocate the land for a school extension.

Volunteers behind the Club Sandwich project, who hope an empty green space off Deal Road, Sandwich would remain free for community use, are shocked by the sudden change in direction.

In 2010, Dover District Council (DDC) planners designated the site – near the existing Sandwich Leisure Centre and Sandwich Technology School – for sports use, while another section of the land was designated for 60 houses.

Club Sandwich, a trust set up to raise funds to build a new sports centre, then worked on designs supported by commercial sponsors to provide a new public community centre on the land with a lap pool, teaching pool, studios, spa and sports pitch.

A £1,200 pre-application proposal was submitted to DDC, which was approved in 2020.

In January last year, the council wrote to the trust to confirm its ongoing commitment to community sport use for this land.

However, in the authority's latest Local Plan, published in September, it stated Sandwich Technology School will be allowed to take the land for its own extension and the housing need is to be dropped by 20 homes to 40.

This has left volunteers at Club Sandwich devastated as they claim they were not informed of the changes, and say this is a loss of community land.

A petition created by the club, and signed by hundreds of people, has already been submitted to the council.

Lynn Davis, Club Sandwich member, said: "After being given assurances from the DDC planning department that the land would remain for community sports use, I was totally shocked to find that these assurances had been rescinded and DDC intended taking the land away from the community and giving it to the school.

"The community, once they knew about it, reacted positively in support of our campaign to keep the land for community sports use.

"In a short space of time we attracted a few hundred signatures in support which were sent to DDC.

"It is now in the council's hands.

"We would hope to be able to change the designation back to community sports use with our arguments sent in as written representations to DDC and our verbal presentation to the inspector.

"We have no idea why they made the changes, other than KCC was apparently keen to use the land for educational purposes.

"We would argue that there are better places for educational expansion either in the places where the children live such as Deal and Dover, to avoid unnecessary, unsustainable travel, or on the land and buildings that the school already has, all of which can be developed easily.

"Similarly if we provide a small lap pool and teaching pool the children from the north of the district and Sandwich can more easily get to the club and don’t need to use unsustainable travel.

"From what we have been told by the people of Sandwich, they would far rather have a community sports use on the land rather than educational use, which will in any case serve mostly people from outside Sandwich.

"It’s important that sport is made easy and available for all, including women and the elderly.

"Sports clubs become social hubs for opening up and extending sport and fitness."

A spokesman for DDC said the emerging local plan, which has been subject to public consultation and is being prepared for submission this year, does include land adjacent to Sandwich Technology School, with land here proposed to be allocated for 40 dwellings and for expansion of the school.

They said: "The plan says the previous site allocation policy for this site safeguarded an area of land within this site for the expansion of Sandwich Sports and Leisure Centre.

'From what we have been told by the people of Sandwich, they would far rather have a community sports use rather than educational use'

"However, the council has recently updated the 'Indoor Sport and Leisure Facility Strategy (2022)' which does not identify a need for expansion of this facility, and the site is now under management of the school.

"Kent County Council (KCC) education, and the school themselves have identified a need for school expansion as the site is already undersized for the form entry it provides.

"Due to the location of the site adjacent to an existing school, it is the most appropriate site to enable expansion of the school.

"KCC advise around one to two hectares of land would be required to provide an additional one form entry.

"We have received a representation in response to the local plan consultation from Club Sandwich, which has been submitted as a petition/group representation.

"We will be considering this through the formal local plan process."

But Sandwich Technology School head teacher Tracey Savage said the school has no current plans to expand: "DDC have earmarked the land next door to the Sandwich Sports and Leisure Centre as potentially being used for school expansion.

"This was not a decision that was requested or sought in any way by Sandwich Technology School. The school was not aware of it until it was published in the local plan.

"At present Sandwich Technology has no plans for expansion either now or in the future.

"We understand that due to the need for new homes and an increasing population across Kent, local councils are required to look to the future and consider potential solutions for any educational capacity problems and that if land becomes available adjacent to schools it may be considered as prudent to reserve it for future school expansion should the need arise.

"The school believes that this is general policy and not something that is only being applied to Sandwich Technology School.

"But the contents of the Dover district local plan have not been canvassed for, or influenced by, Sandwich Technology School or its governors at any point.”