How cunning Clarkson got green light for latest location

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex will not be pleased. The royal lovebirds are about to have their bucolic idyll in the Cotswolds rudely disturbed by petrolheads — and Jeremy Clarkson in particular.

Clarkson, 58, has got the green light to film his motoring programme The Grand Tour in a marquee on the Great Tew estate after sneakily applying under the name of one of his producers without mentioning the identity of his show.

A mobile film studio will be erected for 12 weeks, with associated facilities and proposed on-site parking for 200 cars on the 4,000-acre estate owned by Old etonian Nick Johnston.

The application was made by the producer of the show, Laura Steele- Perkins, ‘ for an Amazon production’.

When Clarkson applied last year, he faced neighbours’ fury over the ‘totally inappropriate’ proposal.

Residents and councillors claimed that the extra traffic on narrow country lanes would create a hazard for horse riders and walkers, and complained about the expected increase in traffic caused by 80 staff and 350 visitors.

That planning application was under Clarkson’s Chump Productions and clearly stated it was The Grand Tour. Planning permission was granted on that occasion, albeit with certain restrictions.

Yet, this time, there is no mention of the TV show or Chump. Locals say that Great Tew is already blighted by the influx of Chelsea tractors heading to the exclusive members’ club Soho Farmhouse. But at least it will be an easy commute for Clarkson.

The TV presenter lives about ten minutes away in Chipping Norton.

Prince harry and Meghan Markle rent a cottage on the Great Tew estate near a country home owned by David and Victoria Beckham.

It is believed the royals are using it as a weekend retreat while a new home earmarked for them by the Queen — York Cottage at Sandringham — undergoes renovation.