Jeremy Clarkson's farm shop and TV show should be praised for teaching petrolheads that burgers from cows, a planning meeting has been told. It came as the ex-Top Gear presenter tried to persuade his local council in Oxfordshire to allow him to expand the car park at the site of his shop.
Some local residents, small businesses, and Clarkson's employees, back the proposals, saying the farm benefits the local area. It has also been argued that it provides an important education on where food comes from, BirminghamLive reports.
But West Oxfordshire District Council (WODC) opposes the expansion of the car part to accommodate 70 cars, believing it will encourage more visitors to Diddly Squat farm, leading to traffic problems in the surrounding area. The council also thinks the car park will disturb the tranquillity of the Cotswolds Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.
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Annabel Gray, 32, who works on a catering trailer at the site, said the farm shop give visitors an “important” education, as some do not realise “beefburgers come from a cow”. She told the hearing: “Diddly Squat has an important opportunity to educate people about local farming and I find it really frustrating that the council is overlooking that.
“There are few places about where you can experience where we get food from. Jeremy's following do not have that great a knowledge about farming - I have had to explain to people that beef burgers come from a cow - and they travel long distances with the hope they might see him, but also to experience farming they have seen on TV.”
Ms Gray also said the farm shop would encourage visitors to seek out local produce where they are from, having a positive effect well beyond West Oxfordshire. She added: “They buy something that's being produced by the local farming community and they are wowed by it and then they go and seek it out in their local communities.
“This is a massive, massive opportunity for WODC. I am begging you that this is something that can be improved on rather than turn your back on.”
But a resident of the nearby village of Chadlington, Hilary Moore, described people drawn to the local area by the farm as “motorheads” who drive slowly on surrounding roads to “show off their cars”. Ms Gray said this description was “unfair” and that she had “witnessed local people” adding to the traffic issues by driving slowly themselves.
Local butcher and Diddly Squat supplier Henry Lawrence, 33, said the show could be “the crown jewel” of sustainable farming. He also said his business had grown “dramatically” since trading with it.
Mr Lawrence, who owns Hook Norton Butchers, said: “I would like to see a car park granted of the correct capacity, not only for the success of the farm shop, but for the success of local businesses too. Diddly Squat farm could be the crown jewel in the local sustainable farming movement.”
Chadlington Parish Council chairman Andrew Hutchings, 56, emphasised that there was “a range of opinions” on the farm in the village, but most agreed that it had “clearly outgrown what it was built for”.
WODC previously shut the restaurant at the site down, which Clarkson had opened last year – allegedly without planning permission. The Amazon Prime star has subsequently said he no longer wants to reopen it.
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