Jeremy Clarkson’s planning application to open a new 60-seat café/restaurant and 70-space car park at Diddly Squat Farm has already attracted 28 objection comments from locals concerned about its impact following his hit TV show Clarkson’s Farm.
Now a response to the planning application from consultee ERS Pollution says the proposed site is a disused quarry — and may be too toxic to build on.
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They say that a review of their records indicate that the land to the north west of the site has previously been used as a quarry and may contain filled ground.
“ No development shall take place until a desk study and if required a site investigation of the nature and extent of contamination has been carried out in accordance with a methodology which has previously been submitted to and approved in writing by the local planning authority.
“The results of the site investigation shall be made available to the local planning authority before any development begins."
The report adds: “If any significant contamination is found during the site investigation, a report specifying the measures to be taken to remediate the site to render it suitable for the development hereby permitted shall be submitted to and approved in writing by the local planning authority before any development begins.
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“If, during the course of development, any contamination is found which has not been identified in the site investigation, additional measures for the remediation of this contamination shall be submitted to and approved in writing by the local planning authority.”
In the planning application to West Oxfordshire District Council Jeremy's team say Diddly Squat is ‘facing an acute reduction in the Basic Payment Scheme’, a government subsidy, which is currently being phased out.
It says the payments will reduce from £83,298 to £0 over the period 2020 to 2028.
“It is reasonable for a farm business to investigate ways to replace this income with on farm diversification to create new income streams or expand existing enterprises," it says.
They state that the Government subsidy received by Diddly Squat Farm "accounted for over 85 per cent of the business’s profit" this year.
National newspaper columnist Mr Clarkson, 61, who is reported to be worth £50million and has hit shows Clarkson’s Farm, The Grand Tour and Who Wants to be a Millionaire, met Chadlington villagers at a public meeting to answer concerns about his plans to develop the site.
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He admitted that his plans to open a restaurant in his former lambing shed “have gone down like a shower of sick with a few red-trouser people in my local village”.
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