A museum owner’s hopes of opening a unique holiday let in a former airliner have been grounded due to a row over planning red tape.
Martin Button spent thousands buying and converting the Airbus A319 plane which he wanted to offer as accommodation to guests to his attraction in Capel-le-Ferne.
But the military history enthusiast says planning obstacles linked to the Capel Battery site near Folkestone, which he runs as a Second World War museum, have forced him to put the plane up for sale instead.
It is one of the more unusual items on offer on Facebook Marketplace, where it is being touted with a price tag of £55,000.
The front section includes a stripped-out cockpit and cabin, which retain some of the aircraft’s original features and controls, allowing visitors to pretend to pilot the former jet.
The accommodation includes a kitchen, dining and living area as well as a shower and separate toilet.
The Airbus A319 is a narrow-bodied commercial passenger jet that can carry up to 156 passengers.
Mr Button bought the front section of his aircraft, which previously flew with Portuguese airline TAP, from a specialist aircraft breaker’s yard in 2023.
He then set about converting it into a holiday let, hoping the revenue would help support the Capel Battery Museum – on the site of a former Second World War artillery position overlooking the English Channel.
“With electrics, water and waste, lights, kitchen, fridge and a toilet and shower, it’s all ready to connect up and live in,” says Mr Button.
“I thought it would be a good addition for tourism in the area.”
But he says he’s been forced to abandon the project after a planning run-in with Folkestone and Hythe District Council (FHDC), which refused a separate retrospective application to site a new Nissen hut and four storage containers on the land.
Following the setback, he has decided not to apply for planning permission for the Airbus accommodation, due to the cost and the likelihood that it would not get accepted.
“I can’t make it work here, so it’s an opportunity for someone else to resite it and create a very unique Airbnb,” he said, adding: “I’m just trying to get my money back.”
He also hopes that by putting it up for sale, demonstrating his efforts to remove it, he will avoid any risk of future enforcement action by the council.
Mr Button’s father, John Button, bought the Capel gun battery, built in 1941 to defend the Kent coast from Nazi Germany, 16 years ago and has excavated many “lost” buildings and structures.
The pair later established a preservation society to highlight the site’s strategic and historical importance and have amassed a collection of military vehicles, equipment and memorabilia which attracts visits by enthusiasts and schools.
But planning officers concluded the Nissen hut and storage containers would be out of keeping in the setting and should be removed.
Officers described the application as “an incongruous addition to the site and the unacceptable loss of the open and undeveloped countryside, which is in turn harmful to the special character of the Kent Downs National Landscape and the Dover and Folkestone Heritage Coast”.
Mr Button has been left baffled and disappointed by the decision, and argues the new hut simply replaces one that formerly existed on the site.
He says it was also refused because he “could not prove it was a Second World War heritage museum site”.
But he is now facing the potential threat of enforcement action if he does not remove the structures.
Mr Button says this places the whole museum’s future at risk by forcing the collection of vehicles and artefacts to be put into storage and educational visits to be stopped.
A spokesman for FHDC said: “Retrospective planning permission for the erection of a Nissen hut and the siting of four storage containers was refused in April 2025.
“Discussions with the applicant to try to resolve the matter are ongoing.”
The council said it would not comment further on matters relating to the Airbus.
For more information about the museum, events and opening times, go to www.capelbattery.com/events
