One person has been arrested in the wake of trouble at two successive Oldham Council meetings, police have revealed.

It comes after the council confirmed it sent out a letter to at least one resident to ban them from attending meetings for the next 12 months.

At a special meeting last month, called in response to the publication of a Child Sexual Exploitation report, attendees including Mayor of Greater Manchester Andy Burnham and Chief Superintendent Chris Bowen were drowned out by protestations from the public.

And at the second of these meetings, a standard meeting which also contained the CSE report on its agenda, these protestations continued and escalated into what has been described as 'abuse', 'aggressive behaviour', 'disruptive behaviour' and even 'throwing missiles'.

The council took its own action in the form of a ban from attending meetings, which was communicated in a letter to at least one resident with its logo and the Greater Manchester Police logo at the top.

But a spokesperson for GMP explained the force was not involved in the letter, although there is an investigation into the trouble. One person has been arrested and bailed.

The spokesperson said: "This correspondence was not officially approved or sent by GMP and it is not GMP’s responsibility to determine who can attend a council meeting.

"Our only involvement was to investigate any criminal offences that may have taken place at recent meetings of Oldham Council – one person has been arrested and bailed."

A spokesperson for Oldham Council said: "We welcome and encourage the attendance of residents at public meetings.

"Resident engagement with the democratic process is essential, and we recognise that, sometimes, the nature of the issues we discuss will elicit a passionate response.

"However, all attendees at public meetings need to behave appropriately, to ensure meetings can be run fairly, safely and effectively. Unacceptable behaviour of any kind cannot be allowed to continue and will not be tolerated.

"Banning people from entering local authority premises, including the council chamber, is not a decision we take lightly. However, we have been forced to take this action against a small number of individuals to ensure the safety of elected members, staff, and members of the public."

Those banned from attending meetings were allowed 14 days to appeal.