LUXURY retirement village and care home Aura Care Living has submitted a change of use planning application to Cotswold District Council, to allow its restaurant and bar to open to the public as well as residents and friends.

The Cirencester retirement village, Stratton Court, which was opened officially by Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown MP on May 11, plans to open the 28 seater Kensington Restaurant and Bar to the public until 9pm (although the plans if passed will allow for it to stay open until 11pm if needed).

Aura Care Living director Peter Lloyd said of the plans: “We want to open the restaurant until 9pm for a small number of covers, offering a unique dining experience.”

As well as Sunday lunch, Aura Living also hopes to open for movie nights, quiz evenings and live music. Peter added: “All of which will adhere to strict closing times.We intend to respect the peace of our own residents as well as the Stratton community.”

The restaurant is currently open to the public twice a week between 6-8pm for events including a cheese and wine night.

However, the plans to extend this into a regular nightly event have come under fire from some local residents, who have lodged their complaints with the Cotswold District Council planning department.

One Stratton resident, who objected to the proposal on the grounds of highway access, parking, privacy and light, said: “There is already limited parking for this development and opening up to the public will create more parking issues locally.

“This development was approved on the basis of it being a retirement village, a peaceful haven for elderly residents however opening it to the public seven days a week with live music until 11pm is a completely different concept.”

She added: “Quite frankly we’ve suffered enough at the hands of this development.”

Another local resident said: “When planning was given for a residential home and retirement apartments for the over 60s the idea of a cafe bar with live music, open to the public for seven days a week wasn’t mentioned.

“I am sure not only the long standing residents of Stratton object to this, but also the new residents in the retirement apartments would have thought twice about purchasing one if they had known that this was in the offing.”

Peter Lloyd said: “We want to open the doors to our luxurious establishment to provide something for not just Stratton, but for Cirencester and its surrounding villages to enjoy. Ever since we opened we wanted to open up to all. The restaurant is licensed as a facility and this is only a small change to make sure the 28 covers is recognised.”

He added: “Our focus has always been on hospitality and bringing a quality service to our residents and also to those outside of Stratton Court,”

The planning consultation ends on November 20. Visit publicaccess.cotswold.gov.uk/online-applications/