Clarkson's Farm season 3 statement

As a planning authority, we have a responsibility to make sure that national and local planning laws and policies are followed correctly by everyone. We must be fair and so we apply the same laws and rules to Diddly Squat Farm in the same way as any other business. 

We have worked with the owners and planning agents of Diddly Squat Farm for many years, offering to help the business with planning applications and supporting them to diversify and make changes on the site. We have approved many planning applications for the farm including the lambing shed, a barn and the farm shop. We do not want to see the farm shop close and we were pleased to see all the local produce being sold there from local suppliers. 

When we received complaints from the public that the lambing shed was being used as a restaurant without planning permission, we had little choice but to take enforcement action against it and other ongoing breaches of planning law or changes on the site which didn't have planning permission. On appeal, the independent planning inspector agreed with our assessment that there was a harmful breach of planning control and the restaurant had not been opened with correct planning permission. 

We agreed with the decision made by the Planning Inspector to grant a temporary car park at the site. We encouraged Diddly Squat Farm to make an application for a temporary car park long before the appeal. Hopefully this solution will improve the highway safety issues caused in recent times by the immense popularity of the television series.   

The work Diddly Squat Farm is doing to highlight the wider challenges faced by farmers is commendable. We continue to support farm diversification to help local farmers bring in income and we have supported other farmers from across the district with their diversification schemes.  

The Council has always supported local farming and we have also recently committed to providing more support to local farmers. This includes exploring making it easier for farmers to diversify, supporting local food production and calling on Government to support the Get Fair about Farming campaign to ensure supermarkets stick to fair buying agreements. 

We will continue to treat Diddly Squat Farm fairly and we will be happy to work with Diddly Squat on any future plans. Our door has always been open and will remain open should they choose to work with us.