Councillors who fought Jeremy Clarkson faced 'nasty threats' after Clarkson's Farm

Councillors who battled with Jeremy Clarkson faced threats after Clarkson's Farm.

The Grand Tour presenter's fight with the West Oxfordshire District Council takes centre stage in the Clarkson's Farm series which documents his life as a farmer on Diddly Squat Farm. Clarkson has come up against a number of difficulties with the council which has played out on the Prime Video series, especially over the restaurant and farm shop.

Behind the scenes though, one councillor said some of his colleagues faced a "lot of threats" as a result. West Oxfordshire District Council councillor Liam Walker, who is a supporter of Clarkson and his ventures, told Yahoo: "It got quite nasty to be fair, lots of threats towards councillors."

The threats come at the time when the West Oxfordshire District Council rejected plans for Clarkson to open a restaurant and new farm track, although now the presenter has been given the green light to open the restaurant in a different location on Diddly Squat Farm as seen in series three of his show.

Now Walker has said some of his councillor colleagues had to have their landlines and addresses hidden online at the time because they faced threats after a planning meeting was filmed for the second series of the show which was released on the streaming service in 2023.

Read more: Jeremy Clarkson's 'proper English pub' menu sparks debate about what's missing

Councillors faced threats

"It was really difficult at the time," Walker said. "When the planning committee was all filmed, I think that was probably wrong because it put people on the spot who aren't used to dealing with the media and certain councillors that had to have their landlines and addresses hidden from the website and all those sorts of things because they're getting people calling them and emailing them.

"I think that's deeply inappropriate at the end of the day, the councillors are there to enforced planning law and, like I said, Jeremy is no different. Whether it was Jeremy Clarkson and Joe Bloggs, he would have come up against the same challenges. So that was quite a challenging time for some colleagues. People handle it in different ways."

In April, Dean Temple told The Daily Star that he quit the West Oxfordshire District Council after facing death threats. He resigned from his position as the sole representative for the Chadlington and Churchill ward which covers Diddly Squat Farm.

So when it came to Clarkson's pub venture, Walker explained there was reluctance from the county council to be seen as too "heavy handed". Initially the councillor had fears that the pub in Burford village, Oxfordshire could cause issues with parking and congestion.

He urged the locals to avoid the area when the pub opened on the Asthall roundabout on the A40. His fears come about because Clarkson's farm shop on Diddly Squat Farm outraged locals because of the huge queues of people and increase in traffic.

The county councillor for the Hanborough & Minster Lovell Division on Oxfordshire County Council explained: "I think that's why there's a reluctance for the council to be too heavy handed or to be seen to be too heavy handed because they don't want the backlash because it takes up a huge amount of resource in the council to deal with those sorts of things."

Walker praised Clarkson's team for looking into possible resolutions around the potential parking issues including a booking system with a small fee for those wanting to visit and a nearby field as well as improving the bus stops.

Hopes for The Farmer's Dog success

Walker revealed the council were behind Clarkson on his pub venture and they were hopeful it would be a huge hit. He added: "We all want the pub to be a success. It's just respecting the local community and looking at ways to reduce the impact on the new villages and road network."

As many as 300 people queued for Clarkson's new pub. Walker had made the journey to the pub too as he shared his verdict on the pub on social media. He said: "I’m really pleased that things went well for the grand opening of The Farmer’s Dog pub today."

He added: "It was great to pop along for a pint of Hawkstone this evening and to enjoy the lovely views across the Windrush valley. Well done to Jeremy Clarkson and all the team for creating not just a cracking pub but supporting the farming community right across Oxfordshire."

Yahoo reached out to Prime Video representatives for further comment.