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| The DIY toll road: was it a journey to nowhere? | The DIY toll road: was it a journey to nowhere? |
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| Building a road is the sort of job that usually requires experience. But in August, in the village of Kelston, local retailer Mike Watts opened the UK’s first new private toll road in more than a century. He commissioned a sub-base to be laid across a friendly farmer’s field in order to circumvent a 14-mile detour caused by repairs to the A431. He got the idea in the pub. Acting on it cost him upwards of £150,000, and weeks of lost sleep. | Building a road is the sort of job that usually requires experience. But in August, in the village of Kelston, local retailer Mike Watts opened the UK’s first new private toll road in more than a century. He commissioned a sub-base to be laid across a friendly farmer’s field in order to circumvent a 14-mile detour caused by repairs to the A431. He got the idea in the pub. Acting on it cost him upwards of £150,000, and weeks of lost sleep. |
| Watts is a jolly sort of entrepreneur, though. If enough people paid the £2 toll (£1 concession rate for Kelston villagers, and the parents of local schoolchildren), he would cover his costs and possibly have a surfeit to split with John Dinham, the farmer who loaned him the field. The break-even point was 150,000 journeys. So how did he do? | |
| “It’s been a very interesting year,” he says. A total of 163,000 crossings were made. A profit, then? “We gave out about 200 concessions a day,” he says. I was a bit too … I won’t say generous. I was a bit too hasty in that decision.” As things stand, he is £10,000 down on the enterprise. | “It’s been a very interesting year,” he says. A total of 163,000 crossings were made. A profit, then? “We gave out about 200 concessions a day,” he says. I was a bit too … I won’t say generous. I was a bit too hasty in that decision.” As things stand, he is £10,000 down on the enterprise. |
| If the A431 had remained closed until Christmas, as forecast, he might have broken even. But possibly spurred on by Watts’s innovation, the audacity of his challenge to the accepted timetables and conventions of road-building, the local authority managed to raise extra funds for its own repair scheme and, hey presto, the roadworks finished more than a month ahead of schedule. | If the A431 had remained closed until Christmas, as forecast, he might have broken even. But possibly spurred on by Watts’s innovation, the audacity of his challenge to the accepted timetables and conventions of road-building, the local authority managed to raise extra funds for its own repair scheme and, hey presto, the roadworks finished more than a month ahead of schedule. |
| But what’s money, when there’s been so much love around? “We’ve had people see us on TV in Canada, the Caribbean, Bahrain, Italy, Germany, the US, Australia … They’ve come over the road not because they’ve needed to, but because they’ve heard about this bloke who’s built a toll road. We called them toll tourists.” | But what’s money, when there’s been so much love around? “We’ve had people see us on TV in Canada, the Caribbean, Bahrain, Italy, Germany, the US, Australia … They’ve come over the road not because they’ve needed to, but because they’ve heard about this bloke who’s built a toll road. We called them toll tourists.” |
| Emergency vehicles went free. Watts may even have saved a life or two, he thinks. So, almost worth £10,000 for the experience? “People ask, would I do it again? And I say: ‘Yes, I would!’” The @KelstonTollRoad Twitter feed is full of warm wishes from those who have crossed. Some say they miss their twice-daily chat with the toll-booth operators. | Emergency vehicles went free. Watts may even have saved a life or two, he thinks. So, almost worth £10,000 for the experience? “People ask, would I do it again? And I say: ‘Yes, I would!’” The @KelstonTollRoad Twitter feed is full of warm wishes from those who have crossed. Some say they miss their twice-daily chat with the toll-booth operators. |
| Watts’s road was only 365 metres, but in all other senses the journey has been long. | Watts’s road was only 365 metres, but in all other senses the journey has been long. |
| On Friday 14 November, he was informed by the council that the A431 would reopen the following Monday. “There wasn’t time for a closing party. But when people heard, we had cakes baked for us, boxes and boxes of chocolates, whisky.” | On Friday 14 November, he was informed by the council that the A431 would reopen the following Monday. “There wasn’t time for a closing party. But when people heard, we had cakes baked for us, boxes and boxes of chocolates, whisky.” |
| Now it is back to a quiet life, looking after the two party shops and a coffee wagon in Bath’s Guildhall market that he runs with his wife Wendy. In the new year, the road will be dug up, the gates rehung and the field returned to pasture. “Six months from now,” Watts says, “no one will know that Kelston Toll Road ever existed. It will be just a little piece of history.” | Now it is back to a quiet life, looking after the two party shops and a coffee wagon in Bath’s Guildhall market that he runs with his wife Wendy. In the new year, the road will be dug up, the gates rehung and the field returned to pasture. “Six months from now,” Watts says, “no one will know that Kelston Toll Road ever existed. It will be just a little piece of history.” |
| Talking of which, Wendy has collected some stones from the road and stuck eyes on them, to make pet rocks. Just little pieces of history, on sale for a bargain £1 (£2 if Wendy has sprayed it gold) at Funtastic in Bath. Who knows, if they take off, Watts might just break even, after all. | Talking of which, Wendy has collected some stones from the road and stuck eyes on them, to make pet rocks. Just little pieces of history, on sale for a bargain £1 (£2 if Wendy has sprayed it gold) at Funtastic in Bath. Who knows, if they take off, Watts might just break even, after all. |