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Jeremy Clarkson granted permission for Diddly Squat Farm Shop car park

16 June 2023, 12:40

Jeremy Clarkson has won the right to extend the car park at his farm shop. Picture: Alamy

The Top Gear star has been given the green light following a year-long battle with the council.

Jeremy Clarkson has been granted permission by his local council to extend the car park at his famous Diddly Squat Farm Shop.

The former Top Gear star, 63, has been battling with officials at West Oxfordshire District Council for over a year after submitting plans to increase parking space at the popular attraction.

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The celebrity farmer was left furious when his initial ideas were turned down, which also caused locals in the surrounding village of Chadlington to become frustrated.

A lack of appropriate parking for the hundreds of farm shop visitors each week were resulting in damaged roadside verges and blocked or obstructed country roads.

Jeremy Clarkson has been embroiled in a battle with the council. Picture: Alamy

However, the Grand Tour presenter has now been given the go-ahead from a planning inspector who visited the site and overturned the decision.

Officer RJ Perrins wrote in a report that he had given Jeremy permission for "an extension to existing parking area to formalise temporary parking and provision of new access arrangements".

He said: "[Diddly Squat] 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."

A planning inspector has granted the car park extension at Diddly Squat Farm Shop. Picture: Alamy

He 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."

Fans have been following Jeremy's controversial car park saga ever since the issues came to light during his popular Amazon TV series, Clarkson's Farm.

The show also documented his struggle to open a restaurant on site – a separate plan that has since been rejected.