Jeremy Clarkson Diddly Squat restaurant should not be allowed - council

The application for Jeremy Clarkson's farm will be decided at a meeting on Monday

A planned new restaurant at TV personality Jeremy Clarkson's Oxfordshire farm should not be built, a council's planning officers have said.

Diddly Squat Farm, in Chadlington, is the subject of Clarkson's Amazon Studios series, Clarkson's Farm.

Officers say the restaurant would be out of keeping with the Cotswolds Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB).

In September Clarkson admitted the farm had "swamped" the village but said it led to increased trade for businesses.

He hosted a residents' meeting on the farm that month, when he unveiled plans for the new restaurant.

Clarkson told Jeremy Vine: "There is more traffic, yes, but there is more business - the village shop is doing better, the cafe in the village, the pub in the village - they are all doing better.

"They are swamped with people but they are swamped with people spending money."

Mr Clarkson posed for selfies with fans as he arrived for a village meeting in September

Clarkson hopes it will be built inside a lambing shed that was built in 2020 after a new flock of sheep was bought to diversify the farm business.

It has now been merged with another local farmer's flock, the council said.

Documents state the building has since been used, without planning permission, as a cafe and a bar area.

'Divisive and contentious'

If permitted, the restaurant would serve breakfast, lunch and dinner, seven days a week, between 08:00 and 15:00, and 17:00 and 22:00.

A total of 53 objections have been received by the council, with another 12 letters of support.

Chadlington Parish Council said it held a public meeting in November to decide its view on the "divisive and contentious" application but a vote was inconclusive.

Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE) West Oxfordshire said any new restaurant would be a "major incursion" into the AONB and would "spoil the rural nature of the Upper Evenlode Valley".

A West Oxfordshire District Council planning sub-committee will decide the application on Monday.

The authority said it "recently" served Clarkson's farm with a planning contravention notice after allegations that products sold in its shop were not grown, reared or produced on the farm, or from other local producers.

If proved, that would be in contravention of a condition agreed when that was given planning permission in November 2019, the council said.