A councillor has hit back at Jeremy Clarkson’s suggestion that Chipping Norton 'isn't  great any more' because so many small shops have closed and there is too much housing.

Mr Clarkson, who moved to the town 30 years ago, writes that when he arrived in Chippy: “There really was a butcher and a baker and a candlestick maker. And there was a factory that made Dralon armchairs. So the people had jobs and shops…”

He blamed town planners and said “someone at the lodge” decided that Chipping Norton “needed 800 million new houses. So the Parker Knoll factory was pulled down and turned into a housing estate and all of the surrounding fields became housing estates as well.”

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He went on that instead of being good news for the local shops “the town planners reckoned that all of the people in these new ticky-tacky houses didn’t want local people selling local food. They wanted a supermarket. And not just one either. They wanted five.”

This caused the small shops to shut “along with the little department store, the brilliant hardware shop and the bank”, he wrote in The Sunday Times.

But town councillor Steve Akers said: 'I don't agree. Chippy IS great! - him saying otherwise is not helpful and does us down." 

"He is wrong regarding shops - we still have the butcher, the baker and the candlestick maker (or at least stockist)! We are blessed with having great independent shops and the town council is working hard to welcome new businesses and keep the 'high street' vibrant and welcoming. 

Cotswold Journal:

"We will be launching our 'Keep Chippy Beautiful' initiative which will aim to involve the whole community - including visitors to his farm shop," he said.

He added: "He is wrong on businesses closing because of new houses and people wanting supermarkets. It's because of the way multinational businesses chose to operate. It's called Capitalism!

"The  Parker Knoll factory closed after being taken over by Silentnight and production was moved to Poland. We wanted small employers to move in and that land was earmarked for it, but in the end we ended up with retail units. 

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"Most of our banks have all closed because our big banks believe, incorrectly in my view, that all can be done online. We are fighting the proposed closure of the Barclays branch, the last remaining bank in Chipping Norton."

He said where he does have a point is on the overall number of houses.

"That has changed Chippy over the last 30 years. It is a pressure felt in every market town everywhere.

"As a Town Council we have constantly asked for a planning 'master plan' process. We are determindly opposed to further encroachment on to agricultural land.

"Perhaps he could ask some of his influential friends in the Chipping Norton Set to spread the load a little by putting some affordable housing where they live!"