A Conservative council approved building on green belt land despite the party claiming only they could protect it from development. Bromley Council in south London gave planning permission for a 56-bed care home on land designated as green belt, sparking fury from Reform UK.

The approval comes just days after the Conservatives accused Reform of wanting to "concrete over" green spaces in London ahead of the May 7 local elections. Planning documents obtained by the Daily Express show the development was approved despite the council's own green belt report stating "the site lies within designated green belt".

Councillor Alan Cook, leader of the Reform Party in Bromley, said: "The Tories' stark hypocrisy is on full view here in Bromley. Only a Reform UK council will protect Bromley's green spaces. The Conservatives can't be trusted." He added that local residents "are rightly feeling let down that their Conservative council has just greenlit a development on the very green belt land that they're campaigning to protect".

Hitting back, Gareth Bacon MP, the Conservative Party's Shadow Minister for London, said: "Reform in the London Assembly voted with Sadiq Khan's Labour Members to defeat a Conservative motion protecting the green belt."

He said Mr Farage had sacked his most senior housing spokesperson "weeks ago for insulting the victims of the Grenfell Tower tragedy", adding: "This is the same man who wrote that the green belt is 'neither green nor pleasant', just 'disused scrubland, fenced-off car parks, and muddy wasteland behind a B&Q'. That is Reform's view of London's green spaces."

Mr Bacon added: "It is Reform's housing policy that would concrete over green belt land wholesale. Conservatives are the only party with a clear commitment to protect it. We have a plan to review the London Plan, build on brownfield first, and protect our green belt."

The revelations came after the Conservative Party attacked Reform over green belt protections in the run-up to the crucial May ballot. Taking aim at Nigel Farage's candidate for Mayor of London, Laila Cunningham, the Conservatives had previously accused Reform of an "unholy alliance" with the London Mayor and posing a "serious threat" to the capital's green spaces.

London Tory leader Susan Hall said she feared Reform gaining councils in May would give "this anti-green spaces agenda a credible footing in council offices across London". The Tories pointed to a motion in the Greater London Assembly which saw Reform members vote with Labour to defeat a call for protection of green belt land.

But after the Bromley planning documents emerged, Ms Cunningham accused the Conservatives of being "master gaslighters". She told the Daily Express that the Conservatives "pretend to care about London's green belt to get elected, yet build on it the moment they win".

Ms Cunningham added: "Londoners don't want platitudes and broken election pledges. They want their green belt protected. It's clear that a vote for the Conservatives is a vote against our green spaces."