Fears of abuse and hostility have rocked Glastonbury's World Heritage working group, with revelations that some members wanted to remain anonymous to protect themselves from backlash.

The claims emerged during a heated exchange at April's meeting of Glastonbury Town Council, where Cllr Lillith Osborn raised concerns about how the group was operating.

"I've had a complaint about the working group for the World Heritage thing," she said. "Apparently… somebody… has resigned from it because they're talking about adapting the names on the minutes and people not wanting to be associated with it publicly."

"If we're talking about transparency… the idea that there's any kind of secrecy being discussed seems very odd," she added.

In response, Cllr Jon Cousins confirmed that some community volunteers on the group had expressed fears about being named publicly.

"There was some concern from some members that the reaction within the community could be quite hostile, and so they didn't want to necessarily have things in public whilst they were in debate," he said.

Cllr Cousins said that since then, the group had agreed all meetings would be open to the public, and minutes would be published once approved. He also revealed that one member had quit over the issue.

"They decided that they would rather not be restricted by being a member of the committee… and that they would come along to watch the proceedings in public," he said, adding that he had personally advised them not to resign.

The decision to allow temporary anonymity was driven by concerns about online abuse.

"Members of the public have given their time as volunteers to this community, some of whom are concerned about the very strong reactions that people have voiced on social media," said Cllr Cousins. "They're concerned that they might be putting themselves at risk."

He added, "I personally have been under a great deal of attack around things that aren't even real, related to World Heritage."

The group was set up to help the council explore whether Glastonbury should apply for World Heritage Site status – an idea that had appeared in the Green Party's local election manifesto.

Cllr Rik Cook questioned the political motivations behind the project: "The whole point that this group against the World Heritage process started, when we all started talking about it. But then it was already on the Green manifesto for the last elections, that: 'obtain World Heritage status.' That was it. One sentence. So people feel the decision has already been made."

But Cllr Cousins pushed back, defending the council's position.

"It's absolutely shocking that a political group put something on their promotional material during election and then move forward in exploring that during the time that they're in office," he said.

"What this council hasn't done is obtain World Heritage. What it's doing is exploring whether or not that is a worthwhile option and the merit in it."

Mayor Lokabee Lokabandhu added his support for the group's efforts.

"It just seems a really good group of people – really good real cross-section of the town – 12 people who really care about Glastonbury… I feel we'll get good advice from them in due course."