BOURNEMOUTH council leader John Beesley said he had “limited time” available for his private business interests due to his council work.

And he hit out at “people with their own agendas” making allegations against him.

Asked by the Daily Echo to elaborate on his consultancy work and position with retirement housing firm Platinum Skies, Mr Beesley said: “My business interests these days are really not all that exciting.

“They are far fewer than they used to be and really do not amount to a significant part of my life.

“In terms of clients of my hospitality consultancy, they do not provide me with very much business any longer given that my capacity is rather limited as a result of my council work, which regularly occupies up to 80 hours a week of my time.”

He said recent “allegations” were “blatantly untrue and wilfully misleading”, adding: “No doubt there will not be any named sources of complaint, yet much will be made by them of very little.”

“Obviously I do have business interests and have done for many years but they are modest and apparently much exaggerated in their significance in terms of scale, impact and public interest,” he said.

“However, I cannot jettison them completely and nor would most people expect me to do so.”

Mr Beesley played down his 20-year role as a consultant, emphasising that his brief was “hospitality” and that he didn’t have the “expertise, resources or time” to act as a planning consultant.

“In the earlier years of my consultancy I had numerous clients, but today far fewer as I need to offer value for money within the limited time I have available,” he said.

“My fees are modest by comparison and my role is on a completely different scale.”

In the case of the Belvedere Hotel development, which was cited by MP Christopher Chope in Parliament, Mr Beesley said his “important but not particularly significant” role had been “fully recorded in terms of declarations at every stage on specific legal advice from the council”.

Also, he said: “I had previously been involved with the Belvedere site on and off over many years with owners, agents and others and it was not until last year that a suitable client came forward with the ability and experience to deliver an appropriate hotel development.”

While pointing out that his role with Platinum was unpaid, Mr Beesley said he has carried out hospitality consultancy for parent firm Quantum Group for their East Cliff hotel application.

Of this he said: “Much of the requirement of the client was to provide hospitality analysis, reporting and hotel planning guidance as part of their planning proposals and to play the usual role required within the team.

“The tourism reporting work contained within the application was authored by me.”