The road behind me is closed. There's been a landslip, and that's a problem because it's pretty
much the only road that connects the villages of Kelston – and a dozen others besides – to the
picturesque city of Bath. There is a detour, but it's 14 miles long, and the council won't be
able to open this road for a few months yet. But there is a solution, and it's quite an
astonishing one. This is the Kelston Toll Road, and it was set up not by the council, but
by...well, this man.
—We were in the local pub one night after the road had been closed for about 3 months. We were
talking to the local farmer who owns the land here. My wife suggested that he should put down
some stone and maybe set up a toll road and charge people to go over it. We had gone home, we
carved the field, we built the road, we did it without planning permission.
—As you might expect, the council are not initially happy about this, but here's the thing: Mike
is not breaking the law. In the U.K., not getting planning permission — the U.S. translation
would be "violating zoning laws" — but in the U.K., not getting planning permission is not a
crime in itself. You're only breaking the law when the council notices, files an enforcement
order against you, and then you refuse to undo what you've done.
—We thought that they would say, "well look, you know, get on and do it, this is great, you've
got our full support." They didn't come up with that and they've actually made us apply for
retrospective planning permission.
—The council did have some good reasons. According to their statement, they weren't sure if
construction and driving up there would affect the landslip down there. But they seem to have
taken the risk, and it's paid off. Mind you, they're not the only ones taking a fairly big risk on this road.
—My wife and I have got a lovely little cottage in Kelston down by the river, but we put our
house up as a guarantee with the road builders to say, "look, we want to build this road. If it
doesn't work out, we will sell our house and we'll pay you, and it's the only way we can make
this happen." They're a local firm and they agreed to it. We shook hands, and they sent three
guys over and they built this road in 10 days. We've got to get 150,000 cars over to get our
money back, but we're well on the way — we've had 100,000. The public's reaction has been —
(MOTORCYCLE REVS) — it has been astonishing. The public's reaction has been astonishing.
—It's even made it onto Google Maps. So there you go, the Kelston Toll Road. Something you might
not have known about, not just because of its existence, but also the fact that it's still
running, and it looks it will be for a few months yet.
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