Clarkson's Farm

Council Attacks Clarkson’s Farm – Accuses Them Of Lying In Show

Clarkson’s Farm season two has received strong criticism from the West Oxfordshire District Council.

Since the show aired on Prime Video in February, the council have received a huge amount of backlash from viewers for the way they dealt with Jeremy Clarkson’s applications. The show gave viewers an insight into life at Diddly Squat Farm along with the struggles the Grand Tour host faced whilst trying to diversify his business as well as form a cooperative to aid other local struggling farmers.

Ellis O’Brien / Prime Video

The council rejected Clarkson’s plans for a restaurant and a car park.

In a statement with the Oxford Mail, a council spokesperson explained:

“The planning meeting shown in Clarkson’s Farm ran for well over an hour but was covered in a matter of minutes in the show.

“This meant that a lot of discussion from the meeting was missed, including a lot of very relevant legal planning advice and discussion that informed the decision taken by councillors.

“The ‘dark skies’ argument that featured in the programme was a very small part of the overall discussion and was not the reason for refusal of planning permission.”

Ellis O’Brien / Prime Video

The spokesperson continued:

“Throughout series two of Clarkson’s Farm a lot of information was not included, or appears to have been misleading for viewers, leading to the narrative promoted by the series that the council has a vendetta against Mr Clarkson.

“A good example of this was the ‘refusal’ of the farm track where the show omitted the fact that Diddly Squat Farm had applied retrospectively for work that can only be applied for in advance meaning the council had no choice under law but to refuse it.

“Also, it was suggested that West Oxfordshire District Council had put cones along the road outside the farm which was not the case.

They concluded:

“We would like to be clear we treat each application fairly and objectively regardless of the individuals involved with the submission. This is also the case with the Diddly Squat Farm.

“Over recent years, Diddly Squat Farm has had many planning applications approved where they were in line with national and local planning policy.

“Behind the scenes we have worked with the owners and planning agents of Diddly Squat Farm to try and reach a positive outcome where the business can operate within the planning laws and policies and help to support other local farmers.”

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