Jeremy Clarkson has re-ignited a planning war at his Cotswolds farm shop – in a bid to extend his ‘temporary’ car park for another four years.
The former Top Gear presenter is locked in a battle with West Oxfordshire District Council amid the ongoing success of his television series Clarkson’s Farm.
Permission to add parking spaces at Diddly Squat farm was initially granted on appeal in June 2023, to help deal with an influx of customers.
However, the deadline of June this year to return the land to its original use is now fast approaching.
With Mr Clarkson’s show commissioned for a sixth series, airing next year, his team have applied for planning consent to extend the permission until the end of 2030.
The Planning Inspectorate approved the car parking extension to combat severe traffic issues on the surrounding rural roads – but refused plans for a permanent restaurant there.
Mr Clarkson’s representatives have insisted the original conditions need amendment as series six has already been commissioned and will air in summer 2027.
When the original permission was granted on appeal, the second series had just been aired and the length of impact on the surrounding area wasn’t clear, they said.
Jeremy Clarkson has re-ignited a planning war at his Cotswolds farm shop – in a bid to extend his ‘temporary’ car park for another four year
Parking at the Diddly Squat farm shop is seen being used for the first time after planning permission was granted in August 2023
The representatives added: ‘Season five will air this year and season six has been commissioned and will air in summer 2027. Three further years to monitor and review thereafter seems appropriate.’
After opening the temporary carpark on agricultural land in August 2023, Diddly Squat immediately became jammed with two hour waits to get in.
Mr Clarkson personally oversaw the construction of the new facility as was spotted at the site wearing a hard hat and fluorescent high vis jacket to inspect the works.
With the summer holidays in full swing and fine weather, the new car park quickly proved totally insufficient to cope with the legions of fans arriving.
Staff were soon forced to open another field where a further 100 cars could park on grass just a five-minute walk away.
Mr Clarkson’s team have said the planning application to West Oxfordshire District Council to extend permission is to amend two previously approved conditions.
They added: ‘Both conditions impose a time limit on the operation of the site and use of adjacent land for car parking.
‘The reason for imposing the condition is clearly set out in the Inspector’s decision letter, when considering the planning balance.
‘That was to allow continued monitoring of the effects of the use and associated demand for parking, in light of the success or otherwise of the undertaking and in the context of the whether the associated television programme would continue to be commissioned.’
They went on to claim that the three-year time limit had been chosen on the basis that if the third series was the final one, two years of monitoring after airing was sufficient to assess demand.
The representatives said: ‘It (the programme) is currently renewed for the fifth series which is yet to air.
First look images from the series see Jeremy, 65, joined by a smiling Kaleb, 27, and his long-term partner Lisa Hogan, back on Diddly Squat Farm
While the former Top Gear host can also be seen working on the farm alongside a gaggle of geese, which he revealed he’d purchased for the farm in 2025
‘The site continues to be popular and attracts sufficient customers to warrant the provision of additional parking.
‘It maintains the associated benefits to the farms and other businesses that supply the farm shop and café, and in turn the economic and social well being of the wider area.
‘The provision of the dedicated additional parking and careful monitoring by the applicants has also ensured that parking on the adjacent highway is precluded.
‘The landscaping around the car park area has started to mature and assists in assimilating the site into the surrounding landscape and existing sylvan backdrop.’
Mr Clarkson’s team said there were ‘unique circumstances’ that should allow them a second temporary consent while acknowledging it wasn’t ‘normal to do so.’
They concluded: ‘In light of the continued popularity of the site and associated television programme, we are requesting a further extension of the limited period consents for the use and associated development to provide car parking.
‘Whilst it is normal to only grant one temporary consent it also confirms that it is justifiable in cases where changing circumstances provide a clear rationale for doing so.
‘The application site is one such case and set of unique changing circumstances. The Inspector clearly identified that the association with a popular current television programme is a unique circumstance which generates a time limited demand.
‘The rationale is clear – at such time as the television programme no longer airs then demand may reduce and the parking required for the operation of the farm shop can be assessed and appropriate provision made.’
No further documents or public representations have so far been submitted and a decision will be made by West Oxfordshire District Council at a later date.
Fans will be able to tune in to the first four episodes on Clarkson’s Farm from June 3, as the eight-part series drops in part through the month with episodes five and six arriving on June 10, and seven and eight on June 17.
Prime Video have teased of the new series: ‘Clarkson’s Farm is back, and amidst a government budget that sends the UK farming community into uproar, Jeremy decides some big changes are needed to make the farm run more smoothly.
‘But while the farm tries to go high-tech – resulting in Kaleb’s first ever trip abroad – even bigger developments are heading for Diddly Squat that are going to prove much more of a challenge.’
First look images from the series see Jeremy, 65, joined by a smiling Kaleb, 27, and his long-term partner Lisa Hogan, back on Diddly Squat Farm.
While the former Top Gear host can also be seen working on the farm alongside a gaggle of geese, which he revealed he’d purchased for the farm in 2025.
Last October, Mr Clarkson joked the next series of Clarkson’s Farm is ‘a conveyor belt of misery’ and he was even forced to ‘send the cameras away’ after a string of major setbacks.
The documentary series, which follows Jeremy running his own farm, first hit Amazon Prime in 2021.
Clarkson’s Farm has gone on to have four successful series, and fans were delighted that in November last year it was renewed for another.
