Jeremy Clarkson reveals new row with council over Diddly Squat that risks 300 jobs: ‘We’ve begged’
‘All of them want to know if their jobs are secure,’ Clarkson said of his employees
Jeremy Clarkson has revealed that he’s battling with his local council again over his Diddly Squat farm, with their decision potentially impacting nearly 300 jobs across his businesses.
The Clarkson’s Farm star’s various run-ins with West Oxfordshire District Council over the years have been documented on his Amazon Prime series; in 2022, the council rejected Clarkson’s planning application to build a new car park and restaurant, while last year, Clarkson was told he would need to overcome several hurdles in order to improve parking facilities at his farm if the changes were deemed “not to be an established lawful use”.
Now, the TV presenter has found himself in a fresh row with the council after putting in an application to place hard standing in his pub’s car park ahead of the winter.
Clarkson, 66, revealed that in the summer, he had been offered a large amount of hardcore – crushed materials that can be used as gravel – to use in the field that he uses as his pub’s car park, and wanted to lay it down in the hopes of stopping the land from becoming muddy in the winter months. However, he claimed that he’s yet to hear back from the council after asking for permission.
“So I’m sitting here today, with the rain falling, and we can’t get permission. We’ve rung. We’ve begged. We’ve pleaded. We’ve explained that if we don’t do the work now we will lose the hardcore and, all winter, our customers will be dragging tons of mud onto the roads. And all we get back is silence,” he wrote in his column in The Sunday Times.
He added that he is also facing similar problems at the farm shop and is currently waiting to hear back from the council about what they’ll be allowed to do on the property. “Nearly 300 people are employed by my various enterprises these days. And all of them want to know if their jobs are secure,” he continued. “And all we can ever tell them is: ‘We don’t know.’
“There’s no doubt that the planning system in this country is broken, and I suspect it’s because far too many people are invited to have an opinion on each application,” he said, recalling how he had to go to the police, the Environment Agency, Historic England, Natural England, the parish council, the local water company, the highways department and the county council for their opinions when wanting to open a restaurant on the land.
“We cannot allow the current system to go on. We cannot allow so many ill-informed people to have the ability to stop projects.”
The Independent has contacted West Oxfordshire District Council for comment.
Earlier this month, Clarkson told the Conservative Party Conference that British farmers are being “attacked” from all sides by escalating expenses and that recent weather conditions had resulted in a “terrible” year for agriculture.
“We worked really hard all year and we ended up with, I think I’m right in saying, three ounces of hen food,” he said.
“It was an absolute disaster on the farming side but, I mean, luckily we’ve got other projects going on now. But the farming is very, very difficult – very, very difficult at the moment.”
Back in September, Clarkson confirmed that Clarkson’s Farm would be back for its sixth series, revealing that production was just a couple of weeks away from finishing.
