A SENIOR member of the district council’s planning team has been unable to say if in his private capacity as a solicitor he has undertaken work for the company that is hoping to build thousands of homes in Cirencester.
Cllr Nicholas Parsons (Con, Ermin) is Cotswold District Council’s cabinet member for forward planning and a partner at Cirencester’s Sewell Mullings Logie solicitors.
In his cabinet role he has been working on the Local Plan, which sets out future development in the district.
At the full council meeting last week, he was asked by Cllr Joe Harris (Lib Dem, Cirencester Park) if through his work as a solicitor he had done work for Bathurst Development Limited, which is proposing 2,350 new homes in Chesterton.
District council head of democratic services Nigel Adams said on behalf of Cllr Parsons that Cllr Parsons would be breaking rules set out by the Solicitors Regulation Authority if he answered the question.
Lord Bathurst later confirmed that Cllr Parson’s firm had not been involved in the plans aimed for Chesterton
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