A stadium owner has assured fans "the fight is not over" after an application to add another motorbike race night at his venue was rejected by Swale council.

Bosses at Central Park Stadium in Murston wanted permission to host speedway races on a Saturday, which would have been added to the Monday-to-Friday previously agreed by the authority.

However, discussion at the authority's latest planning committee meeting turned into a debate about noise neighbours endure from the venue throughout the week.

This was despite the fact the application was not to change the number of nights the races would be staged, but instead designate Saturday as a possible alternative race night and allow a later finish time of 40 minutes if racing falls on a Friday or a Saturday.

The speedway races can only be staged at the venue once a week.

Speaking after the meeting, stadium owner Roger Cearns said: “What should have been a simple change to the permissions for operation had become a war on what objectors choose to call noise, which is extremely disappointing.

“I thank all the supporters who have turned out – you can see what a family sport we are by the range of ages represented here and I assure them the fight is not over.”

Co-promoter Len Silver said the refusal was a big blow to the club.

“It seems the application to extend the curfew, when we run on Saturdays, has been the main point of contention – even though we only asked for a 40-minute extension,” he said.

“We have about four months before we open for the 2019 season, so there is still time and we are looking into how best to proceed with a further application.”

Swale council said the proposal "would be likely to give rise to significant harm to residential amenity, by virtue of noise and disturbance".

Eleven members voted against it, and three for it.