The Greens have pulled out of a council’s ruling coalition group over the government’s plans to ramp up housebuilding.

The party accuses Labour of “putting profit above people and the planet” in a statement explaining their exit.

Swale council has been run by a “rainbow coalition” of multiple parties since 2019.

Originally comprised of Labour, the Swale Independents, Greens and Lib Dems, after last year’s local elections the Liberal Democrats were no longer involved. But this week, the three Green members, Cllrs Terry Thompson, Rich Lehmann and Alastair Gould, pulled out.

It follows controversy after the Sittingbourne and Sheppey Labour MP was among those who requested the government intervene to stop the authority from refusing plans for an unpopular 8,400-home estate - Highsted Park.

In a statement, the party writes that the Labour government’s changes to the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) which governs house-building constitute a “developers’ charter”, “putting profit above people and the planet”.

“Our departure stems from Labour’s revisions to the NPPF which fails to address the urgent need to protect nature and deliver social housing that meets genuine local needs,” they write.

Cllr Rich Lehmann (Green), leader of the Green group on Swale, said: “It’s been a difficult decision to come to, we’ve done a lot of good things in coalition with the Labour group and Swale Independents.

“But the announcements last week of Labour’s changes to the NPPF have just made us feel that it’s no longer compatible with our views as a party and as a group.”

Last Thursday (December 12), the government released new planning rules intended to fulfil its election pledge to “get Britain building again”.

The changes are meant to speed up the rate of housebuilding to meet its target of 1.5 million new homes by the end of the Parliament in 2029.

New mandatory housing targets are included in the NPPF. Swale’s has not jumped much, from 1,040 to 1,048 a year.

Cllr Lehmann continued: “It’s almost Orwellian the way Keir Starmer and other Labour politicians continue to talk about the housing crisis but ignore this incredibly vital part of it, which is that we need to build houses for the people who actually need them and not for the profits of developers.”

The authority’s deputy leader Cllr Mike Baldock (Swale Ind) says it’s “not surprising” the Greens have pulled out given recent controversy.

On November 7, the council was set to refuse two planning applications for a total of 8,400 homes around the south and east of Sittingbourne.

However, only three hours before the meeting, a letter was sent to the council by Matthew Pennycook MP, the housing minister under Secretary of State Angela Rayner, saying the power to decide was being taken away from the council.

Instead, a planning inquiry will take place and the government will make the final call.

Last week, KentOnline revealed that Kevin McKenna, the new Labour MP for the seat, was one of the many who wrote in to the government to request it be called in and power stripped from Swale council.

Tory Cllr Julien Speed described the move as “outrageous,” but Mr McKenna said he “won’t apologise” and defended the decision.

Cllr Baldock continued: “They obviously felt that it had gone too far and they couldn’t continue to support the local Labour position.“I understand completely how they feel, it’s very touch and go with us as well – this is another real damaging blow to trust locally.”

The council consists of 47 seats, and without the Greens the ruling Labour-Swale Independent Group has 27 of those seats. The authority also doesn’t have a cabinet – it runs on a committee system, meaning that policy decisions need broad consensus to be passed.

“I imagine it would be quite difficult for them to operate a minority council of 16 in a committee system,” Cllr Baldock argued.

“We’re coming up to a budget, we’ve got to take the responsible decision at the moment that we need to keep the council in administration – that is not at any price.

“The group is divided, but at the moment we’re still in.”

Cllr Tim Gibson (Lab), leader of the council, said: “I am obviously disappointed that our colleagues from the Green Party have taken the decision to leave the coalition as a result of the government's direction of travel in housing development.

“I clearly understand and respect the reasons for their decision and would reiterate that as leader I have always worked in a collaborative way.

“Accordingly I look forward to maintaining that cross-party collaboration with all parties going forward.

“I would however like to make it clear that the position of the local Labour Group is unchanged in terms of not being in favour of the Highsted application.

“There has been a lot of comment about the ‘call in’ being an affront to local democracy. The reality is that such an ambitious scheme, when rejected by the council, would have gone to appeal.”

Under the new NPPF, councils which don’t deliver enough housing will be forced to undertake green belt reviews if they host official green belt land, with a view to building on “poorly performing” green belt.

However, Swale does not have any officially designated green belt in it.