Jeremy Clarkson locks horns with council again urging ‘I’m not making it up’
Jeremy Clarkson does ‘fracking at the farm shop’
Jeremy Clarkson is at loggerheads yet again with his local council over planting trees at Diddly Squat farm. The TV presenter said he had been sent a letter by West Oxfordshire District Council concerning his plans for the site in Chipping Norton.
The Clarkson’s Farm host, 63, used his column to criticise Environment Secretary Steve Barclay’s plans to encourage the use of timber in the building of new homes. The government announced its idea and a roadmap to see more new homes built from wood in its bid to curb climate change ahead of the COP28 summit.
But Jeremy ridiculed the idea in his Sunday Times piece before revealing the latest row with his local authority. The star wrote: “The upshot is that if we can find people to plant trees, and we can’t, and the trees survive, which they won’t, then what?
“We start building little wooden houses, like beach shacks, for families to live in.” Jeremy continued: “I find that incredibly defeatist but tragically, indicative of the times… “
He then added: “I recently received a missive from West Oxfordshire district council telling me that my plans to plant some trees must be scaled back. I’m not making that up, by the way.”
READ MORE Gary Lineker must ‘leave BBC’ as Jeremy Clarkson hits out in neutrality row
The letter in question referred to Jeremy’s planning application in March to build a new car park a short walk from the hugely popular farm shop with trees and bushes screening visitors’ parked vehicles.
A landscape and forestry officer told him that a 3m-high hedgerow and “a few crab apple and field maple” saplings should be sufficient.
He said: “There does not appear to be a need for so many potentially very large trees along the boundary hedging around the car park.”
Chadlington councillor Dean Temple said: “Essentially the landscape and forestry office didn’t feel he needed to go that far.”
He added: “I don’t begrudge Mr Clarkson spinning it into a humorous article. I’ve long been a fan of his written work and found his prose a delight.
Don’t miss…
Tom Cruise receives warning after rumours he’s ‘dating’ Russian oligarch ex-wife[INSIGHT]
Emma Watson returns to spotlight as Harry Potter star wows in photoshoot[PICTURES]
Craig Revel Horwood responds to Strictly final backlash as Bobby defended[LATEST]
- Support fearless journalism
- Read The Daily Express online, advert free
- Get super-fast page loading
“I appreciate the irony he says but I also can see where the council officer is coming on this.”
Jeremy has been in planning disputes with the council several times since he took over the farm in 2019 as documented throughout his hit show Clarkson’s Farm.
Season 2 focused on Mr Clarkson’s plans to build a restaurant after the council refused his plans to convert his lambing barn.
When he decided to convert a different barn on the farm the council refused him permission to build a farm track to it.
But in July he won a planning appeal to create the 70-space car park which soon became jam-packed with two hour waits on the day it opened in August.
Source: Read Full Article