Jeremy Clarkson spotted shooting scenes for his Amazon Prime show at Diddly Squat Farm

Filming has resumed on Jeremy Clarkson’s Diddly Squat farm amid the TV star’s ongoing planning war with the local council.

Camera crews shot at the former Top Gear star’s home in Chipping Norton, Oxfordshire, for his popular Amazon Prime show, Clarkson’s Farm.

It comes amid an appeal battle between the 62-year-old TV personality and West Oxfordshire County Council, who refused him permission to extend the store’s car park in May last year.

The Planning Inspector held a hearing on Clarkson’s appeal on the matter, as additional security measures were taken due to the threats made to his workers.

Clarkson is also defying the authority’s move to close his restaurant on the same plot of land because he opened it without planning permission in July last year.

The controversial TV star — who sparked a storm of criticism with a column about Meghan Markle earlier this year — looked all smiles as he left his ranch shop with partner Lisa Hogan.

Caleb Cooper, a fan favorite at Clarkson’s ranch, has also been spotted at the site posing for photos with the fans.

The shoot comes after it was revealed that the teenage Diddly Squat workers are having to wear body cameras to record abuse directed at them from locals angry over an influx of visitors brought in by a motoring journalist.

But villagers who support Diddly Squat Farm have described it as the “crown jewel” of sustainable living as they have appealed to their local council to allow expansion plans.

Planning inspectors have been meeting for two days today to consider proposals from the 62-year-old former Top Gear presenter to extend the car park on his Oxfordshire farm plot to accommodate 70 vehicles.

West Oxfordshire County Council (WODC) opposes the plans on the grounds that it would encourage more visitors to Diddly Squat Farm – which lies between Chadlington and Chipping Norton – adding to traffic problems.

WODC also said that allowing more vehicles would further disturb the calm in the Cotswolds Area of ​​Outstanding Natural Beauty.

Annabelle Gray, 32, who works in a catering trailer on Clarkson Farm, said today that workers under the age of 16 on the farm had to “wear body cameras” as a precaution after “abuse” directed at them by villagers.

It also responded to a complaint by Chadlington resident Hilary Moore, who described the tourists drawn to the farm as “car heads” who drive slowly on surrounding roads to “show their cars”.

But Ms Gray said that description was “unfair”, and that she had “witnessed locals” adding to traffic problems by driving slowly too.

Also the daughter of a farmer, Gray said the farm shop provides “important” education for visitors, some of whom don’t realize that “beef burgers come from a cow.”

She told Session: ‘Diddly Squat has an important opportunity to educate people about local farming and I find it really disappointing that the council is overlooking this.

There are a few places where you can try where we get food from.

Jeremy’s followers not only had a lot of knowledge about farming – I had to show people that beef burgers come from a cow – and travel long distances hoping to see it, but also to experience the farming they saw on TV.

They buy something that is produced by the local farming community and are fascinated by it and then go and look for it in their own communities.

This is a huge, massive opportunity for WODC. I beg you this is something that can be improved instead of turning your back.

Local butcher and Diddly Squat supplier Henry Lawrence, 33, said the shop could be the “crown jewel” of sustainable farming and that his business had grown “exponentially” since trading with him.

‘I’d like to see a car park given the right capacity,’ said Lawrence, who owns Hook Norton Butchers, not only for the success of the farm shop, but for the success of the local business as well.

Diddly Squat Farm could be the crown jewel of the homegrown permaculture movement.

Chadlington Parish Council’s 56-year-old Andrew Hutchings confirmed there was a “range of opinions” about the farm in the village, but most agreed it had “clearly gone beyond what it was built for”.

He said, ‘We’re at a tipping point between a farm shop and a tourist attraction for people who want to see celebrities as well as the farm.

The problem comes when you have too many visitors… Traffic is a major problem for the community as a whole.

When you have a site that has significant traffic issues and can’t handle the number of visitors, should we add more services and features that enable more people to spend more time on the premises?

“It’s very difficult to see the proposed car park deal with that at peak times.”

WODC argued that car park expansion indicated a change in the use of its land from being for a store to “recreational activities”, which would require different planning considerations.

Clarkson’s legal representative, Richard Kemblen KC, disputed this, saying that the additional parking space reflected increased demand for the store alone due to its “remarkable success in selling farm goods.”

The council’s attorney said that if Clarkson’s business operated solely as a farm shop, visitors would only stay “about five minutes” to buy their goods, so space for up to 70 vehicles was “too much”.

He’s previously heard that visitors spend more time taking selfies, meeting Clarkson, and spending a day at the site.

WODC previously closed a restaurant Clarkson opened last year – allegedly without planning permission – and the TV presenter later said he no longer wanted to reopen.