A Labour member of a Hertfordshire council suggested the party's group 'start planning sites where we can't win seats' and 'take the political decision not to go near' a planning application for 900 homes, according to messages seen by the Daily Mail.

Chris Myers, a Labour councillor, told a party WhatsApp group that allowing a planning application in Potters Bar would break their grip on Hertsmere Council.

Labour runs Hertsmere council as the senior partner in a coalition with the Liberal Democrats but the administration has a razor-thin majority.

Revelations over the Labour group's messages come weeks after the borough's local plan was published, threatening thousands of new homes on previously green belt land now at risk under the Government's 'grey belt' rules.

The Potters Bar planning application referred to in the messages, known as 'PB3', was not included in the initial local plan.

In the messages, believed to have been sent in July last year, Mr Myers told Labour colleagues: 'We stand a fairly good chance of retaining and doubling seats in [Potters Bar]. If we lose anything in [Potters Bar] we lose the council as it's going to be near on impossible to retain Hillside.

'PB3 in any plan, loses us the council. It's that simple. So, stop protecting the "influencers" and start planning sites where we can't win seats.'

In further messages, he added: 'This site, as has been discussed at great length, is off the table.

'There's plenty of Greenbelt sites across the Borough that can be used before the site that is going to lose us this council.'

Mr Myers, a 'life-long' Potters Bar resident, told fellow councillors there was a 'political consequence to the actions we take here' and that because of 'the political sensibilities around PB3, it cannot be on the table'.

He added the land was 'only at risk if we put it at risk' and that 'we lose the council' if it were built on.

Concluding, he said: 'We take the political decision not to go near PB3.'

'The same must be said for Cowley Hill,' Mr Myers said of a different ward represented by three Labour councillors.

Helen Green, another Labour member of the council who chairs the planning committee, said the group needed to be 'more creative' with planning across the entire borough.

A third Labour council member, Nik Oakley, told Mr Myers: 'If it makes you happy, Shenley Hill will probably be there.'

The Mail previously reported on an application to build 195 homes on a grassy field by Shenley Hill, which lies in the small town of Radlett.

After being rejected on three occasions by Hertsmere Council, the bid was accepted after the Government's planning inspector stepped in and approved it on the grounds it was grey belt, not green belt.

Former Housing Secretary Angela Rayner introduced the grey belt rules, which Labour had promised would only apply to 'poor quality' and 'ugly' areas.

Hertsmere's local plan threatened to double the size of Radlett, the population of which is currently 8,200.

The town's council ward is represented by one Tory and one Reform councillor, while the former Conservative deputy prime minister Sir Oliver Dowden is the MP.

Sir Oliver told the Mail the Labour group's messages were 'deeply concerning'.

He added: 'If legitimate, they suggest a politically motivated approach to planning that prioritises partisan interests over the preservation of our Green Belt.

'First Labour redefined Green Belt as "grey belt" so they could concrete over it. Now it appears they are rigging planning policy to punish areas where people didn't vote for them by imposing more urban sprawl. No wonder people feel so let down by them.

'I continue to stand against any unreasonable attempts to tarmac over our Green Belt on behalf of local people.'

Sir Oliver said the local plan's effect on the green belt 'could be disastrous', proposing 16,160 new homes with hundreds on green space

Hertsmere Labour group said: 'This historic conversation has nothing whatsoever to do with the current local plan. It pre-dates even the previous draft local plan.'

The group said 'political debates' on group chats were 'healthy and legitimate' but 'do not form any part of the council decision-making process'.

'Actual planning determinations and the candidate site allocations for the new local plan evidence a planning process in Hertsmere that operates without fear or favour.'

The group called Sir Oliver 'out of touch' and said he and the previous Tory council leadership were to blame for the housing deficit, adding: 'No new local plan for Hertsmere has been published'.

It said the council 'published candidate sites based upon a robust spatial strategy developed by planning professionals with the aim of minimising development on green belt land'.

Hertsmere Council said it did not comment on party political matters.