A homeless charity will have to make a bid at auction if it wants to remain in its current premise.

The Bus Shelter Kent Community Hub is raising funds to buy Phoenix House in Central Avenue, Sittingbourne from Kent County Council (KCC).

But its founder, Tony Cooper, says he “does not know” how much money the charity needs as KCC has not disclosed a guide price.

The property, which has been labelled as “surplus to requirements” by KCC, is set to be “disposed of”.

The authority had told volunteers that it was taking back the building on Friday, March 1.

The charity runs a food bank, offers clothing and hot meals and sends out food parcels to those in need from the building.

Mr Cooper had told KentOnline that the most in need could end up “going hungry” if the charity went homeless itself.

However, the charity has received a community asset status for the building that allows the group to purchase the site.

But KCC says that status does not give the charity “any rights to Bus Shelter to purchase the property outside of an open and transparent bidding process”.

It gives the group, which was founded in 2016, six months to raise funds to buy the land.

It also means KCC cannot sell it during this period.

But Mr Cooper says the lack of a funding target has left the charity in “limbo” as he cannot go to potential donors to ask for money.

“We know our target of £5,000 on our crowdfunding page is not going to cover the cost but we don’t know how much we need to raise to buy the site,” he added.

“It makes us look silly as people have approached us for funding and we can’t tell them how much we need.

“KCC have a valuation for the property but they haven’t told us and say that we have to wait until the auction.

“We will be up against developers as won’t have a chance to buy the site.

“When we know how much it will cost we can go to firms and tell them how much we need.

“When we have purchased the site we want to then knock down the Phoenix House and build a brand new community hub. This would be in the ballpark of £1.7million.

“This would probably take us five to ten years to raise through, getting grants, national lottery funding and fundraising ourselves to raise the money needed.”

A KCC spokesperson said: “The property's status as an Asset for Community Value does not confer any rights to Bus Shelter to purchase the property outside of an open and transparent bidding process.

"We have a duty to obtain the best value in the disposal of surplus property.

“We are aware that other community groups have expressed an interest in bidding for the property.

“For these reasons, the property will be openly and transparently marketed following the conclusion of the six-month period.

"We are unable to instruct an agent or define a guide/reserve price until we are closer to the point of marketing. Once the marketing details have been confirmed these will be communicated to Bus Shelter.

“Funds raised through the sale of this surplus property will be reinvested back into service delivery and the modernisation of the KCC estate, benefiting all residents of Kent."