SHOCKED residents have slammed a "secret" meeting to discuss the future of a Cotswold town. 

Cotswold District Council has organised an invitation-only "workshop" to discuss the future of housing in Moreton on October 9. 

Residents are fighting the local plan which could see 1,500  more homes built in Moreton, which has a population of just over 5,000.

The meeting is part of CDC's plan to work closely with communities in developing the new Local Plan, however campaign group Moreton Against Overdevelopment has called it a secret meeting to gather views from a tiny, unrepresentative, invited audience whose identity and reason for being invited seem to be cloaked in mystery.

It is understood up to 40 people have been invited.

Neil Backwith, chair of MAOD, who has not been invited to the meeting, said: "I am appalled by the council’s refusal to listen to the townsfolk. 

"We have given them clear feedback from the initial consultation and received no response. 

"We held the poll and asked them to listen to the residents. 

"They did not respond.

"We invited them to meet with the campaign team and they said ‘no’. 

"Now, they respond with a single, closed workshop to gather views from a tiny, unrepresentative, invited audience, whose identity and reason for being invited seem to be cloaked in mystery."

The poll Mr Backwith is referring to found that 97% of residents voted for no more new housing in Moreton. 

However the group only polled 1334 people out of a population of over 5,000.

Darren Curry, MAOD's founder has been invited.

Sue Stapely, a member of MAOD said: "Anyone with any professional knowledge of research techniques will know that holding a single workshop with just 30-40 selected individuals isn’t representative of a town with more than 5,000 people. 

"This looks like more window-dressing to make it seem that CDC is listening and enable them to claim they have ‘consulted’ residents, but I fear this will not be the case.”

CDC has claimed the meeting at St David's Hall, is invite-only due to its size.

Councillor Juliet Layton, cabinet member for planning said: “We will continue to work closely with communities as we develop our new Local Plan.

"We are at the early stages of developing the Local Plan as far as development proposals in Moreton are concerned and this workshop is just one of many events where we will be engaging with the local community.

"It is a standard type of event councils run in order to gather views of local groups.

“This workshop is with a variety of key local stakeholders such as businesses, community organisations, the school, the town council and the county council.

"The ‘Moreton Against Over Development’ group has also been invited as part of the session which is limited in numbers due to the venue and the nature of the discussion.

"The discussions on October 9 will feed into the Local Plan and there will be plenty more engagement sessions with Moreton residents over the coming months as we move forward with the local planning process.”