THE founder of a luxury retirement village and care home who became embroiled in a row when rooms there were advertised on travel sites has spoken about it for the first time.

Linda Lloyd has called on the local community and objectors to visit her business and see what she and her team are trying to achieve.

Ms Lloyd, who is chief executive officer of Aura Care Living, is concerned that the business is being vilified by some members of the local community who she believes are still holding a grudge for the failure of Le Spa, which she ran on the same site in 2008.

Stratton Court, run by Aura Care Living, came under fire last November after the discovery that they had been advertising rooms on travel sites.

Rooms under the name of the Nest in the Cotswolds are still showing on some sites despite Cotswold District Council issuing a planning contravention notice (PCN), although on Late Rooms they are now marked as unavailable to rent.

Cotswold district councillor and Cirencester mayor Nigel Robbins said: “The 35 professionally prepared photos displaying the Nest accommodation included a picture of the entrance to Stratton Court Village, while cleverly concealing the fact that it is a residential care or retirement home.”

Speaking to the Standard, Ms Lloyd described the Nest as a ‘pilot scheme’.

She said: “We had five rooms on a booking site for a month and it got taken down the minute we realised that it didn’t say plus 55. I handled it wrong and I apologise.

"We haven’t taken any bookings since November. We have letters to prove we have written to all travel sites asking them to take them down.”

She scotched local fears about Stratton Court being turned into a hotel.

“Of course we are not going to turn it into a hotel,” she said.

Nic Mills, who lives nearby, said: “We are disappointed at the developer’s continued flouting of planning.

“We also feel very let down by Cotswold District Council. Planning enforcement has been wanting.”

He said local people had written to investment company and Stratton Court landlords Target Healthcare to inform them of breaches of planning at the retirement village.

Stratton Court has been mired in controversy since it opened last year. Plans to open the restaurant to the public caused an outcry with residents at the home as well as members of the wider community. The decision was made to withdraw the planning.

Ms Lloyd said: “It was my decision to withdraw because people were upset. We will reapply for the opening of restaurant if we have full support of our residents, and at the last meeting we had that support.”

Addressing her critics, she invited them to come and meet her. “I am being personally attacked and vilified, but would love to show the local community how hard we have worked.

“It goes back to Le Spa. People blame me for a failing business in a recession.”

Mr Robbins said people had been prepared to give Ms Lloyd and her partner Max Banham a chance when they set up Stratton Court, but continual breaches of planning regulations had stretched patience and sympathy.

Real and potential breaches required an over-stretched planning department to make over 15 visits to the site, he claimed.

“This was not the result of inexperience or naivety. Messrs Lloyd and Banham have plenty of experience and knowledge of planning legislation. It’s a simple case of the rich and powerful and presumably well-connected believing that they could do no wrong.”

He urged Stratton Court Care Home to start to make amends by funding or contributing towards the funding of a crossing point at or near the point where Overhill Road joins Gloucester Road. “This would slow traffic down and provide a safe crossing for everybody going to town by foot or bike or children attending Stratton Junior, Powells or Cirencester Deer Park schools.”