Jeremy Clarkson’s Cotswolds pub venture hits further delays as planning battles over car park drag on for nearly a year.

Jeremy Clarkson has been forced to wait almost a year for changes to his Cotswolds pub.

The 65-year-old bought The Farmer’s Dog off the A40 in Asthall, near Burford, in summer 2024 as part of his Amazon Prime TV series Clarkson’s Farm.

The Cotswolds boozer has been a hit with tourists and locals alike, with the pub often busy with thirsty customers, especially on weekends.

But the opening wasn’t the smoothest ride for the former Top Gear and Grand Tour host, as shown on his farming show based at his 1,000 acre Diddly Squat farm in nearby Chadlington.

In December 2024, plans were submitted to West Oxfordshire District Council to put hard surfacing in both car parks such as the one in the western car park.

Permission to park at the site, which has 170 spaces, exists already.

The application is also for new tree planting and hedgerow gapping around both car parks.

West Oxfordshire District Council was asked why the planning application has still not been decided 11 months after it was first submitted, especially given it is a relatively minor ask.

But a spokeswoman declined to give a reason, saying: “We do not comment on live planning applications, as each must follow due process and we cannot pre-determine any outcome.

“There are many reasons why applications can take time to progress, and a decision will be made once the process is complete.

“All publicly available information can be viewed and tracked via the planning portal.”

Typically, minor planning applications take around eight weeks to decide from the moment documents are received.

And larger, more complex ones such as a new football stadium or housing development would take around 13 weeks.

West Oxfordshire District Council’s website echoes this, but it does also say that if information is missing it will take longer to process the application.

Planning consultant John Dickie previously said the “vanilla” proposals put forward by Mr Clarkson and The Farmer’s Dog should have been “approved long before now”.

What’s more, no objections have been received on the application.

While it’s not known what the hold-up could be, this week a drainage strategy was uploaded to the council’s planning application public portal.

The document says the car park’s proposed design proposed follows the “drainage hierarchy” to “ensure the site reflects the natural flows from the site as closely as possible”.

This includes reusing rainwater, infiltration, discharging surface water and foul sewage.

Neil Warner, an agent on behalf of The Farmer’s Dog, said: “The permission seeks the retention of the areas of hard surfacing that have been provided, in excess of that allowed for by the general permitted development order.”

West Oxfordshire District Council did not provide an estimated time to decide the planning application.