DISTRICT councillor Richard Leppington is leaving UKIP and will stand as an independent at this year’s local elections.

Cllr Leppington, who is the Forest of Dean District Council’s Cabinet member for development, asset management, infrastructure and housing, becomes the third councillor at Coleford-based offices to leave UKIP inside the last few months.

Councillor Jim Simpson switched sides to the Conservatives in December in the wake of a row involving UKIP’s national party leader Gerard Batten and his hiring of former English Defence League leader Tommy Robinson as an adviser.

Meanwhile, another UKIP councillor, Martin Hill, resigned as an elected member also before Christmas.

While Cllr Leppington will remain as ‘UKIP’ by name for the next few months until the local elections in May, he is not renewing his membership.

He is part of a Rainbow Coalition of cross-party councillors that are in charge of the authority and he says that local priorities are far more important than national concerns, saying ‘party politics has no place’ in the district authority.

Cllr Leppington told The Forester: “Over the past ten years, two causes have dominated my political life.

“The first one is to ensure the United Kingdom becomes an independent sovereign nation again by leaving the European Union. The second is to improve the lives of people in the Forest through my work on their behalf.

“I am honoured to have served as a member of the ‘Rainbow’ cabinet that has been in office in the Forest of Dean District Council for the last 18 months.

“I am immensely proud of what we have achieved as a non-political coalition. I am very conscious of how much remains to be done in terms of economic regeneration and building a sustainable financial future for the council.

"I have after much deliberation, come to the conclusion that I am better able to represent the interests of local people by standing as an independent in the local elections in May this year.

“This will allow me to concentrate on doing what I feel is right for the people of the Forest without the constraint of party politics or distractions caused by national events.”