Change of Use

Jeremy Clarkson is a close friend of David Cameron, of whom he was a strong supporter. In February, Clarkson and his wife were spotted drinking in his pub with Ellen DeGeneres and her wife, who have moved to the Cotswolds. They are part of a trend, with American liberal moneybags either fleeing to Britain or planning to do so.

A special visa route for them, akin to those for Hongkongers, for Ukrainians, and for some Afghans, is proposed by the third largest party in the House of Commons, a party with which Clarkson has lately appeared on platforms from which Reform UK was explicitly barred. But treat them like any other asylum seekers, say I. On £9:95 per week and banned from working, put up Mrs and Mrs DeGeneres in the Bell Hotel, Epping. Along with John Bolton and Kamala Harris.

As for change of use, it was in the last century that I first had a letter published, which was the only way of doing these things in those days, calling for a statutory requirement of planning permission for change of use if it were proposed to turn a primary dwelling into a secondary dwelling, a working family home into a weekend or holiday home. As the issue has arisen, I have used every available means to advocate this ever since. I make no claim to have been influential. I only note who has eventually come to the same conclusion. Michael Gove was moving in the right direction, and last year Plaid Cymru-controlled Gwynedd Council made the move. With Labour representing great swathes of rural England, over to Angela Rayner. She needs a win. Whereas Yvette Cooper is hardly going to resign because she had won, is she?