Jeremy Clarkson wins part of planning row after being granted permission for Diddly Squat car park extension

Jeremy Clarkson has been successful in securing permission for extra parking at his Cotswolds farm shop. The Clarkson’s Farm star has been embroiled in a feud with West Oxfordshire District Council (WODC) since 2022 after the local authority refused to grant him planning permission to extend the existing car park.

Since Diddly Squat Farm Shop in the Cotswolds village of Chadlington first featured in Prime Video’s Clarkson’s Farm back in 2021, scores of visitors have descended upon the new tourist attraction. Due to there being insufficient parking spaces, fans of the show have been leaving their cars on the sides of roads, damaging land in the quiet village and infuriating residents.

Months later, Clarkson has secured a partial victory against WODC as they have finally granted him planning permission to provide extra parking for visitors, hopefully reducing scores of cars from being left on the roadside, and for changes to use of land. However, the 63-year-old presenter is still not allowed to add a restaurant to his farm shop.

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According to MailOnline, RJ Perrins wrote in a report that he will grant planning permission for “an extension to existing parking area to formalise temporary parking and provision of new access arrangements”. Further on in the document, Diddly Squat was described as a “victim of its own success” due to the amount of Clarkson’s Farm fans who travel from far and wide to tour the farm shop and gander at its produce.

Perrins added: “It does not ask for an entrance fee or advertise as a leisure or tourist attraction, it is not comparable to say a Wildlife Park or miniature railway which are reliant upon attracting tourists and paying visitors to be viable.”

“I am in no doubt that this has caused a huge inconvenience for those who live nearby,” the inspector added. “It was clear to me that many people visiting on the day of my final site visit had no regard to the proper use of the highway, with verges being further churned up and traffic having to stop, as visitors walked the middle of the road or cars manoeuvred into tight spaces.

“From that snapshot in time I am not surprised, as heard in evidence, that tensions have run high between some of those living locally and some visitors to the farm shop.”

Although the news of his permitted parking extension will, undoubtedly, celebrated by Clarkson, he still has not been granted permission to turn the Lowland Barn area of the site into a restaurant. It was previously argued by WODC that creating a restaurant on the 1,000-acre farm would spoil the surrounding protected rural landscape.

Clarkson opened the restaurant anyway, after discovering a loophole, in July 2022. The following month, WODC issued an enforcement notice, ordering the closure of the restaurant following complaints from residents about the traffic, that read: “The unlawful use of Diddly Squat Farm by reason of its nature, scale and siting is unsustainable and incompatible with its open countryside location.”

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