plan
Jeremy Clarkson, the former Top Gear presenter, has had several clashes with his local council. In January, he attended a hearing before West Oxfordshire district council’s uplands area planning subcommittee to discuss his plans to “diversify” his Diddly Squat farm in the Cotswolds due to the “parlous state” of finances for farmers. During the meeting, Clarkson is believed to have made ‘disparaging remarks’ about the written responses in the council officer’s report.
Barrister Charles Streeten, who wrote the report, published an open letter addressing the comments and revealed that he was dyslexic. He shared the struggles he had faced when pursuing his law degree and how he had been targeted in his career in a way that Clarkson had called him out. Streeten also pointed out there had been 56 letters of objection compared to 13 of support for Clarkson’s proposals, and stated that the TV star had a ‘general disregard’ for planning rules. The eventual ruling went in favour of Streeten and against Clarkson. Parts of the meeting were also aired on Clarkson’s Farm, which is available to stream on Amazon Prime Video.
This incident follows Clarkson’s controversial column about Meghan Markle, in which he wrote he ‘hated’ her and had dreamed of her being paraded through British towns and publicly shamed. It sparked thousands of complaints, and ended in him issuing an apology, which included him saying he was ‘mortified’ by his words.
