Jeremy Clarkson has been ordered to shut a café he has been runnning at Diddly Squat Farm after the council claimed it breached planning laws.

However, the Grand Tour presenter turned farmer is appealing against the enforcement notice which West Oxfordshire District Council (WODC) issued on August 12.

The Diddly Squat eatery has long been hampered by local residents and planning laws.

The broadcaster, 61, filed an application to create a 50 cover restaurant, featuring a kitchen, “servery area and an internal seating area” inside a lambing shed at his Diddly Squat Farm in September 2021 but was turned down.

But Diddly Squat Farm came under investigation after the TV star announced in his newspaper columns that he had found a “delightful little loophole” to open a pizza place.

He said he had found another barn and notified WODC of the restaurant opening.

The farm and shop, in Chadlington, has been swamped by visitors since it featured in the Amazon Prime Video documentary series, Clarkson's Farm.

Now, Clarkson has been told he must remove mobile toilets, tables that would be used by diners and other dining-related materials.

The farm was also told to stop selling products that do not derive from the farm or are not produced within 16 miles. This was a condition of the original planning permission for a farm shop.

The council described it as "unlawful" use of the farmland, adding that its "nature, scale [and] siting is unsustainable and incompatible with its countryside location within the Cotswold Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty".

Representatives of Diddly Squat denied the farm changes breached planning laws, arguing that the work required by the council - to be completed in just six weeks - will seriously affect the business and its employees.

It also said that a map served by the council is wrong and that the notice "should be quashed in its entirety as a result".

 

 

A West Oxfordshire District Council spokesperson said: “Council officers have worked with the owner and planning agents of the business, over many months, to investigate breaches in planning control, advising on how the business can be operated in a lawful way and trying to reach a solution.

“The business continues to operate outside the planning permissions granted and advice has been ignored. The activity has also had a significant impact on the local community."

The Planning Inspectorate has accepted Mr Clarkson's appeal as valid and representations are due by November 7.