1 day to go till 'Clarkson's Farm'

[JohnfromUK]

Despite my reservations above, I have enjoyed all I have watched so far. 

However, it is very clear that he is spending money on a scale quite out of the reach of any 'normal' farmer - and the expensive projects and  'confrontations' with the local authority are no doubt covered by his Amazon fees - whereas for a 'normal' farmer, they would spell disaster.

[Dasher]

"However, it is very clear that he is spending money on a scale quite out of the reach of any 'normal' farmer "

Your not wrong, £25k for two chicken huts with 50 chickens, that's a lot of eggs to sell to (excuse the pun) recoupe the outlay!!

It is amazing why people still farm in this country with all the problems associated around it but thank God they do. 

[Dougy]

Regards to him spending money, its proving that regardless how much you can spend you still struggle to make a profit. 

 

[Bigbob]

Saw the first episode last night saw theres another seven need to bing view them still one of the best things on tv 

[Lampwick]

Watched three last night and lived every minute! 

Could have binged the lot but I decided to have some to look forward to. 
 

Funny and informative. Love the yokel! 

[crossy 666]

Me and my mate went to his farm today and people were queuing out the doors and dumping cars everywhere so the general public still seems to like him

[discobob]

Well, finished the lot 😭 love binging but hate finishing!!

I am sorry, but watching this has convinced me even more that this country is broken!!

Great program though and Jezza definitely has a new passion

[TIGHTCHOKE]

12 hours ago, crossy 666 said:

Me and my mate went to his farm today and people were queuing out the doors and dumping cars everywhere so the general public still seems to like him

Unfortunately that sort of thing does not endear Diddly Squat Farm to the poor locals.

[JohnfromUK]

20 minutes ago, TIGHTCHOKE said:

Unfortunately that sort of thing does not endear Diddly Squat Farm to the poor locals.

You are right, but it was the local council who have refused permission for his car park on his own land.  I have not been there, but the proposed car park isn't in anyone's immediate vicinity/view from what can be seen on the programme.  (It may have been carefully filmed to give exactly that impression though, I don't know).

[TIGHTCHOKE]

3 minutes ago, JohnfromUK said:

You are right, but it was the local council who have refused permission for his car park on his own land.  I have not been there, but the proposed car park isn't in anyone's immediate vicinity/view from what can be seen on the programme.  (It may have been carefully filmed to give exactly that impression though, I don't know).

Yes a great shame that the local council can't allow him to develop the set up a bit.

Take the cars off the roads in to field parking.

Create some jobs and show the public some of the detail and demands of farming.

[Rim Fire]

32 minutes ago, TIGHTCHOKE said:

 

Take the cars off the roads in to field parking.

He did exactly that he cut some corn so the cars could get off the road and into the field 

[Scully]

Kids got me his latest book for Christmas.
The locals complained about cars parked on the road verges while at his shop, so he made a space for them off road which meant in wet weather they were sometimes to tow off with a tractor, so he applied to the local council to make permanent off road hard standing for the cars but those same locals opposed it! 
Reading his book reveals everything that is petty about local councils and those who sit on them; the same happens in my part of the country and  no doubt countrywide. 🙂

[crossy 666]

3 hours ago, JohnfromUK said:

You are right, but it was the local council who have refused permission for his car park on his own land.  I have not been there, but the proposed car park isn't in anyone's immediate vicinity/view from what can be seen on the programme.  (It may have been carefully filmed to give exactly that impression though, I don't know).

I would say you were right as I don’t think it shows the the caravan site opposite his place in the filming but I might be wrong 

[Dougy]

Nothing new regarding the refusal for planning by the village jobs worth's, the guy that kicked off about the sky at night felt well proud after i bet, and the comment from Jeremy about the barristers spelling was hilarious. 

The hand full of locals that dont like him, still wont like him even if he ever did anything good.  

[JohnfromUK]

1 hour ago, crossy 666 said:

I would say you were right as I don’t think it shows the the caravan site opposite his place in the filming but I might be wrong 

The caravan site was glimpsed briefly and was shown in an episode of series 1 I think.

 

1 hour ago, Scully said:

The locals complained about cars parked on the road verges while at his shop, so he made a space for them off road which meant in wet weather they were sometimes to tow off with a tractor, so he applied to the local council to make permanent off road hard standing for the cars but those same locals opposed it!

That is correct (in that it ties up with series 2).  The problem is that although he did have quite a bit of support locally (as shown by the appropriate episode of series 2), some locally are really strongly opposed - and prepared to spend their (big) money right down to someone employing a barrister to act against Clarkson and starting a crowd funding against him.  Clarkson did look at going to appeal, but the cost of the necessary legal team was (even to him) eye watering and his point was that he was trying to make the farm pay, not spend money fighting legal cases.

There is actually a fundamental problem here; people like the countryside as we know it - and that means as cared for and maintained largely by farmers (either as owners of tenants).  For them to be able to do that, they need to be able to run the business without losing money and making a bit to pay for their time and investment.  However (farm) land and property (houses) particularly in that area (Cotswolds) have become very fashionable and expensive.  It is very difficult for UK farmers with the incredibly high land prices and yet low prices the supermarkets offer for their produce to make ends meet.  The Gov't says "diversify", but if you try to develop outlets such as Clarkson's restaurant, the wealthy locals don't like it (the neighbouring farmers seemed all supportive as he was to serve their veggies, eggs, chickens, etc.).

Rock and a hard place springs to mind.

[Dougy]

6 minutes ago, JohnfromUK said:

The caravan site was glimpsed briefly and was shown in an episode of series 1 I think.

 

That is correct (in that it ties up with series 2).  The problem is that although he did have quite a bit of support locally (as shown by the appropriate episode of series 2), some locally are really strongly opposed - and prepared to spend their (big) money right down to someone employing a barrister to act against Clarkson and starting a crowd funding against him.  Clarkson did look at going to appeal, but the cost of the necessary legal team was (even to him) eye watering and his point was that he was trying to make the farm pay, not spend money fighting legal cases.

There is actually a fundamental problem here; people like the countryside as we know it - and that means as cared for and maintained largely by farmers (either as owners of tenants).  For them to be able to do that, they need to be able to run the business without losing money and making a bit to pay for their time and investment.  However (farm) land and property (houses) particularly in that area (Cotswolds) have become very fashionable and expensive.  It is very difficult for UK farmers with the incredibly high land prices and yet low prices the supermarkets offer for their produce to make ends meet.  The Gov't says "diversify", but if you try to develop outlets such as Clarkson's restaurant, the wealthy locals don't like it (the neighbouring farmers seemed all supportive as he was to serve their veggies, eggs, chickens, etc.).

Rock and a hard place springs to mind.

Exactly, 

What this series has done is show probably millions more people what "Actually" happens within farming and not what people think farming is like. 

Its been mentioned umpteen times before, this series has done more for the UK's farming than any other program on both radio and TV ever. 

[Scully]

7 minutes ago, JohnfromUK said:

The caravan site was glimpsed briefly and was shown in an episode of series 1 I think.

 

That is correct (in that it ties up with series 2).  The problem is that although he did have quite a bit of support locally (as shown by the appropriate episode of series 2), some locally are really strongly opposed - and prepared to spend their (big) money right down to someone employing a barrister to act against Clarkson and starting a crowd funding against him.  Clarkson did look at going to appeal, but the cost of the necessary legal team was (even to him) eye watering and his point was that he was trying to make the farm pay, not spend money fighting legal cases.

There is actually a fundamental problem here; people like the countryside as we know it - and that means as cared for and maintained largely by farmers (either as owners of tenants).  For them to be able to do that, they need to be able to run the business without losing money and making a bit to pay for their time and investment.  However (farm) land and property (houses) particularly in that area (Cotswolds) have become very fashionable and expensive.  It is very difficult for UK farmers with the incredibly high land prices and yet low prices the supermarkets offer for their produce to make ends meet.  The Gov't says "diversify", but if you try to develop outlets such as Clarkson's restaurant, the wealthy locals don't like it (the neighbouring farmers seemed all supportive as he was to serve their veggies, eggs, chickens, etc.).

Rock and a hard place springs to mind.

Quite. There are a lot of farmers diversifying locally. Some have built hard standing for touring caravans, others have created permanent caravan sites for both statics and tourers, others have created glamping sites or B&B or Airbnb. The list goes on. 
All have tales to tell of council red tape and resistance, some of which has created much resentment, one in particular who was refused planning for a house on green field land, who then sought to get his wife in the council, after which he had no difficulties with planning, not even following the erection of a vast egg laying structure he decided to build in the wrong part of a field because it made access easier for his tractors etc. 🙂

I genuinely hope Clarkson wins. 

[Weihrauch17]

On 10/02/2023 at 20:24, Dasher said:

"However, it is very clear that he is spending money on a scale quite out of the reach of any 'normal' farmer "

Your not wrong, £25k for two chicken huts with 50 chickens, that's a lot of eggs to sell to (excuse the pun) recoupe the outlay!!

It is amazing why people still farm in this country with all the problems associated around it but thank God they do. 

125,000

[old man]

I think all It takes is 1 complaint and they have to investigate? If you enquire who that was they won't disclose?

[JohnfromUK]

16 minutes ago, old man said:

I think all It takes is 1 complaint and they have to investigate? If you enquire who that was they won't disclose?

They might have to 'investigate', (whatever that means), but they don't have to reject planning and all correspondence, complaints, supports are posted on the council website under "Documentation" and not 'anonymously'.  A local application received very many 10s of 'objections' but was passed despite all immediately local councillors voting against - because other councillors from other areas voted in favour.  I'll leave you to guess what section of the community was involved, but think 'usual suspects'.

Been a thorn in the side for locals and police ever since.

[bostonmick]

so there was some 5 other farms looking to survive through his restaurant and farm shop.all local people who in turn could provide jobs for the area income for local pubs hotels etc yet the jealous locals in their ivory towers will object to anything for the sake of it.the crunch was refusing a farm track something never heard of before anywhere.god bless Jeremy and long may he prevail.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited February 13, 2023 by bostonmick

[discobob]

Remember - it was Jezza that was being blocked - not the farm - Charlie emphasised that @bostonmick

[JohnfromUK]

2 minutes ago, discobob said:

Remember - it was Jezza that was being blocked - not the farm - Charlie emphasised that @bostonmick

I don't believe you can in fact legally refuse planning due to a 'personality' - any more than you can due to any other 'discriminatory' factor such as race, gender, ethnic group, age, sexuality, wealth (or lack of it) etc.

Planners have duty to consider the plans against strict criteria such as the effects on traffic, conservation, environmental (especially things like noise, flooding and drainage), area policy (i.e conservation areas, areas of outstanding natural beauty etc.) close neighbours factors (such as blocking peoples light or view).  There are also usually local planning policies which allow for green belts, development areas etc.  Additionally - in some cases there may be special restrictions where local infrastructure may already be overloaded.

People may also 'comment', 'object' or 'support' at the planning consideration stage either directly themselves or via the local parish level council (who have advisory powers only as it is the 'district council' who makes the decision). 

How much weight these local's comments really carry is a bit questionable.  Where I live, our local farm shop had an application which drew many letters of support and no (or very few objections) - but was repeatedly turned down by the council ............. whereas another application which had a great many objections and almost no support was passed.

[discobob]

34 minutes ago, JohnfromUK said:

I don't believe you can in fact legally refuse planning due to a 'personality'

And I agree - that is how it works - in Theory - in practice is another matter though as has been seen on the show - where procedure was not followed (relating to the path) but admittedly we did only see one side of the story..

[Deker]

On 10/02/2023 at 20:06, JohnfromUK said:

Despite my reservations above, I have enjoyed all I have watched so far. 

However, it is very clear that he is spending money on a scale quite out of the reach of any 'normal' farmer - and the expensive projects and  'confrontations' with the local authority are no doubt covered by his Amazon fees - whereas for a 'normal' farmer, they would spell disaster.

That was pretty much his summary at the end of the first season too