You all know that Clarkson thinks US Americans are just a bunch of inbred, redneck, idiots, right? You have to know that, if you've watched him over his career.
I like that he makes fun of Americans, and some of our silly ways.... Its a different viewpoint.
Yet, he did buy land in an area of England with very restrictive "conservation laws." He could have bought land else where, but that wouldn't have made for as interesting a show, because he has two things to write a script for; one being his own incompetence, and the other being his fight with the local authorities. There is a reason why the Cotswolds have very restrictive building codes. Its a tourist mecca, and sort of a fantasy of the ideal, bucolic, country side to the rest of the world.
The local council isn't going to let Clarkson mess that up, cause we are talking big dollars to not break the illusion for all this tourism, and an outsiders' visit to the "Shire."
I think Clarkson is actually wrong here, and the local council is right to restrict him. He's just giving a middle finger, to what has been a huge money maker to the area; and that being; that it needs to stay the "Shire," and that this can't be broken in land use, in this very specific area.