A third councillor has resigned from Moreton-in-Marsh Town Council amid concerns over the town's transport hub causing over-development.

Yesterday, Punchline-Gloucester.com reported that both council chairman Matt Beresford and his vice-chair Darren Curry had resigned over frustrations with the way the council operates.

They said that in recent months, the relationship between some councillors and staff had 'all but broken down'.

Now a third councillor, Neil Backwith, who is chair of the campaign group Moreton Against Over Development, has also resigned.

Mr Backwith said: "Although I have only been a councillor for a matter of months, I have decided to resign with immediate effect.

"I joined after being a 'working group' member for some time, because I believed that, in conjunction with a number of other councillors, it would be possible to stop the development of the so-called 'Transport Hub'.

"Whoever decided to call a car park extension that massively exaggerated name has a lot to answer for. Simply calling it that name has already done irreparable damage to our town.

"The planners at Cotswold District Council, the Highways department at Gloucestershire County Council and housing developers who want to destroy our town through over-development are stating that we HAVE a Transport Hub and are using that 'fact' as a reason for building more and more houses here.

"The so-called 'Transport Hub' is our existing station on a single line, a bike shed, an extended car park (creating 44 additional spaces) and perhaps a turning circle for buses. That really is not a 'hub': it's what you find at every railway station up and down the land - and yet gives licence for every developer to target Moreton-in-Marsh."

Mr Backwith added: "As the chair of the campaign group Moreton Against Over Development, I find that protecting our town from over development is best done outside the town council. Which is very sad. I wish nothing but the best for our town."