EXCLUSIVEThe Grand deTour! Jeremy Clarkson persuades council bosses to fork out 'up to £100,000' to improve roads and footpaths near his new Farmer's Dog pub as Cotswolds town braces for traffic mayhem when it opens this weekend
Jeremy Clarkson has persuaded council chiefs to stump up £100,000 to improve roads and footpaths near his new pub ahead of its grand opening this weekend.
It comes as the village of Burford braces itself for traffic mayhem, with fans expected to flock Clarkson's new boozer, which has been rechristened as The Farmer's Dog.
In an extraordinary thawing of relationships between the ex-Top Gear host and his local authority, Oxfordshire County Council hastily agreed to a major series of works.
Clarkson and the council had previously clashed in a long-running series planning battles and traffic rows over his Diddly Squat farm shop in nearby Chadlington.
But planning chiefs feared the rural roads around the TV star's new watering hole would become clogged by cars, mirroring the scenes of chaos when Diddly Squat opened.
A sign for Jeremy Clarkson's new pub, The Farmer's Dog, near Burford in Oxfordshire, ahead of its expected opening on Friday
Jeremy Clarkson has persuaded council chiefs to stump up £100,000 to improve roads and footpaths near his new pub, The Farmer's Dog, ahead of its grand opening this weekend.
Pictured: Jeremy Clarkson, former Top Gear presenter, is set to open his new Cotswolds pub tomorrow
Working alongside Clarkson, the council has hastily installed new bus stops next to the boozer, built new footpaths on previously overgrown roadsides and raised hundreds of metres of grass verges to stop punters parking their motors on it.
And in a effort to boost safety further ahead of The Farmer's Dog's grand opening, council chiefs have also slashed speed limits all around the Cotswolds pub.
Exclusive images obtained by MailOnline show the team of council highways workers hurriedly trying to finish the extensive scheme in time for the pub's opening.
The last-minute scramble to improve the highways has been going on for 18 days, with the road expected to open shortly before the pub throws its doors open to punters at noon on Friday.
But it's understood the warming of relations between Clarkson and Oxford occurred a few weeks ago. And MailOnline has been told that the council rather than Clarkson were the first to take the initiative.
A spokesman for Oxfordshire County Council told MailOnline: 'It is widely recognised that there is likely to be significant interest in the pub under its new management.
'Taking experience from the high volume of visitors to the nearby Diddly Squat Farm Shop at Chadlington, the council has taken proactive measures to improve the safe provision for pedestrians, and to improve existing bus stop infrastructure to hopefully provide a more viable and attractive alternative, at least for some visitors, to using the car, whilst also seeking to deter inconsiderate parking.'
The spokesman added the council had met with Clarkson and his team who have been 'keen to avoid traffic-related problems' arising from the boozer's opening.
It comes as the village of Burford braces itself for traffic mayhem, with fans expected to flock Clarkson's new boozer
Oxfordshire County Council hastily agreed to a major series of works. Clarkson and the council had previously clashed in a long-running series planning battles and traffic rows over his Diddly Squat farm shop in nearby Chadlington
The main car park entrance to Jeremy Clarkson's new pub, The Farmer's Dog, near Burford in Oxfordshire, ahead of its expected opening on Friday
The last-minute scramble to improve the highways has been going on for 18 days, with the road expected to open shortly before the pub throws its doors open to punters at noon on Friday
A drone view of Jeremy Clarkson's new pub, The Farmer's Dog, near Burford in Oxfordshire
'This highway work is complemented by Mr Clarkson's team's own off-highway measures to ensure the opening of the site is not only successful, but importantly as safe as possible,' the council official continued.
The council has funded the work - but the full and final cost of the scheme is still to be confirmed.
However, a source working on the project has estimated the scheme has claimed the final bill to the taxpayer could hit £100,000.
Crews have been working flat out for 18 days on the overhaul, with as many as 12 road workers and numerous diggers, rollers, tarmacing lorries, trucks carrying hundreds of tonnes of hardcore, and road-painting machines, involved.
The council's scheme has involved putting in new bus stops right outside the pub to bring tourists and locals from towns like Burford and Whitney.
The scheme has also involved putting in a network of brand new footpaths where there used to be tatty overgrown grass verges around the pub and surrounding A-roads and rural backroads.
The council has also hastily arranged for all the speed limits to be reduced from 60mph to 40mph around the pub and roads connected to it to lessen the risk of pedestrian punters being injured by drivers.
The entire scheme has been rushed together in the past fortnight - starting on August 5th, with work planned to be completed on August 23rd, the day the pub opens.
In the last week of July before the council started its work on the surrounding highways, Clarkson himself employed a local team of Oxfordshire tree surgeons called BGG Garden and Tree Care to cut back and remove scores of trees and bushes overhanging the nearby roadsides and the pub carpark.
In addition, Clarkson is also understood to be trying to rent land from a local farmer to have a further overflow car park in addition to the carpark already at the pub. At the current farm shop at Chadlington, there is a carpark and two overflow car parks which are still insufficient for the number of customers pouring in.
The entire scheme has been rushed together in the past fortnight - starting on August 5th, with work planned to be completed on August 23rd, the day the pub opens
The scheme has also involved putting in a network of brand new footpaths where there used to be tatty overgrown grass verges around the pub and surrounding A-roads and rural backroads. Pictured: A drone view of the car park and GT marquee, at Jeremy Clarkson's new pub
The entrance to the car park for Jeremy Clarkson's new pub, The Farmer's Dog
All of the above efforts at the new Burford pub has meant that large stretches or the main roads and backroads have had to be closed off completely for weeks with access only being allowed to residents and Clarkson and his film crew who have continued to film excerpts for Clarkson's Farm.
The new pub, The Farmer's Dog, which was previously a restaurant and wedding venue called The Windmill, recently had a giant 5,000 ft marquee added in its five-acre site, where a second Diddly Squat Farm Shop - much larger than the first - will open when the pub does on Friday.
According to the pub's hastily-arranged website, which launched on Wednesday: 'The Pub isn't the only attraction at The Farmer's Dog. If the pub is full, or you fancy a quicker visit, head outside to our tent and check out: Hops & Chops, The Farmer's Puppy and Diddly Squat Farm Shop.'
Clarkson has also asked local planners to have the alcohol licence extended to allow the sale of booze - primarily his Hawkstone range of beers and ciders, across the site, not just in the bars.
The venue is lining up to be a great hit with Clarkson fans. His following has grown steadily among the farming community after the first three series of Clarkson's Farm were a huge hit. A fourth series is now being filmed. MailOnline revealed earlier this month how the renovation of the pub was being filmed for the next series by Amazon Prime's camera crews.
Clarkson's relationship with both the West Oxfordshire District Council and also the Oxfordshire County Council has been frosty for years - a fact that has also been extremely widely publicised.
The main Diddly Squat Farm Shop at Chadlington has become a major tourist attraction in its own right, with fans coming from across the country and beyond to visit.
But the lack of adequate parking has meant that visitors were often forced to park on adjacent fields and the side of the road, disturbing land and sparking heated disapproval from villagers.
Clarkson has already had six planning disputes with his local council over his various proposals to expand the Diddly Squat site but has faced repeated opposition.
He has had rejections to plant a row of trees around a temporary car park, open a restaurant, build a pickle ball court and even permission to lay out a simple farm track to a converted barn.
Jeremy Clarkson is busy preparing his new pub for its opening - installing a canopy and new outdoor tables, pictures show
Faced with a barrage of complaints from fans on social media after the rejections were aired on TV, West Oxfordshire District Council were forced to deny they had a 'personal vendetta' against the celebrity farmer.
In January Clarkson launched another planning battle after submitting new proposals for an 'urgent' storage barn.
He filed fresh plans to build a huge 118ft long by 59ft wide barn to store grain at the site and said it was due to the 'urgent need for the additional storage' which was affecting the price of his produce.
It was the eleventh application the Grand Tour host has lodged with West Oxfordshire District Council since he bought the 1,000-acre farm in 2008.
Clarkson was forced to close his restaurant temporarily in January last year after being served with an enforcement notice from the local council - with residents claiming the establishment was causing heavy traffic.
Still, despite the addition of a large car park at the Chadlington site, plus two large additional overflow car parks, cars still very regularly park on the grass verges for hundreds of meters down the roads leading up to the farm park, churning up the grass verges and causing complete chaos on the surrounding roads.
