11/08/2014

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:00:11. > :00:11.Hello. a promising step forward in

:00:12. > :00:15.A businessman from Bath, who has built a bypass to avoid

:00:16. > :00:18.traffic delays near his home, says more motorists need to use it,

:00:19. > :00:24.Mike Watts has spent around ?150,000 on the road,

:00:25. > :00:35.A price worth paying, seems to be the overriding opinion,

:00:36. > :00:42.for avoiding a long detour ` and an extra 40 minutes' journey time.

:00:43. > :00:45.When it opened at the beginning of the month, the toll road attracted

:00:46. > :00:51.And now it is attracting drivers from all over, too.

:00:52. > :00:54.700 people a day are using it but that needs to increase,

:00:55. > :01:03.The road has cost ?150,000 to build and it has cost us ?1,000

:01:04. > :01:10.So I am looking at a potential bill for building and running

:01:11. > :01:19.Now there are 150 days to go, so at ?2 a car, I have to get 150,000

:01:20. > :01:24.cars over the road to make sure my wife and I are not out of pocket.

:01:25. > :01:26.7,000 people a day would normally use this part

:01:27. > :01:31.of the A431, which has been closed since a landslip in February.

:01:32. > :01:34.The only official way round is a 14`mile detour

:01:35. > :01:39.which has been causing a headache for motorists for months.

:01:40. > :01:42.Over the next few weeks and months, as word spreads about this, it is

:01:43. > :01:46.thought even more motorists will take advantage of this especially

:01:47. > :01:51.when children go back to school in September but also now because it

:01:52. > :01:57.The local council have always said that they would not have been able

:01:58. > :02:00.to do this themselves, instead they're concentrating

:02:01. > :02:05.But they do recognise the benefits to drivers.

:02:06. > :02:14.In the end, we have to say, to Mr Watts, he has taken a bold risk.

:02:15. > :02:19.And only time will tell if that is a success or not for him financially.

:02:20. > :02:23.It is certainly one that has created a lot of interest.

:02:24. > :02:26.The council could not built this road because if we had, we would

:02:27. > :02:30.have had to build it to highway standards and this is nowhere

:02:31. > :02:37.But that's not concerning motorists, who are just happy to have

:02:38. > :02:45.a way round until the main road reopens at Christmas.

:02:46. > :02:48.The country's chief vet was in the West today to promote

:02:49. > :02:51.the Government's strategy for dealing with bovine TB.

:02:52. > :02:54.Actions to be introduced include better measures for keeping badgers

:02:55. > :02:59.off farms, stricter cattle tests, and a second pilot badger cull.

:03:00. > :03:01.The aim is eventually to eradicate the disease,

:03:02. > :03:06.which has led to the slaughter of 11,000 cattle so far this year.

:03:07. > :03:10.We're starting to see the epidemic level off.

:03:11. > :03:19.It has increased ninefold since the late 90s to 2010.

:03:20. > :03:24.We have by no means got on top of the disease, but the cattle measures

:03:25. > :03:30.It was built with pickaxes and gunpowder 173 years ago

:03:31. > :03:37.The Great Western Railway was one of Brunel's masterpieces.

:03:38. > :03:40.And as part one of our series on the region's spectacular feats

:03:41. > :03:45.of engineering, Jenhi Osman finds out why it's such an achievement.

:03:46. > :03:47.The main concern of passengers here at Paddington is

:03:48. > :03:52.Few would have considered the engineering achievement

:03:53. > :03:59.Let me take you on a swift journey of discovery.

:04:00. > :04:01.This is the driver's view of the line today.

:04:02. > :04:07.Just five years later, the line to Bristol was complete.

:04:08. > :04:10.It was the longest in the country and known as Brunel's billiard

:04:11. > :04:18.But the genius of this was that Brunel in his wisdom had designed

:04:19. > :04:21.a wider track, known as a broad gauge, which was almost

:04:22. > :04:29.Let's find out about this by stopping at Swindon.

:04:30. > :04:31.A wider track meant a lower centre of gravity,

:04:32. > :04:39.A broad gauge was good in the sense that if it had come to

:04:40. > :04:43.fruition and gone over the whole network, you could have run faster,

:04:44. > :04:52.You have to remember that Brunel surveyed the land from Bristol to

:04:53. > :05:06.Today, if you were building this railway,

:05:07. > :05:10.No helicopters and no heavy engineering machinery then.

:05:11. > :05:12.This was a world of pickaxes, shovels, horses and many labourers.

:05:13. > :05:16.But the next wonder I want to show you is Box Tunnel outside Bath.

:05:17. > :05:18.It is almost two miles long, the longest of its time.

:05:19. > :05:23.Some said it would be impossible to build.

:05:24. > :05:27.Brunel sank six vertical shafts to allow work to continue

:05:28. > :05:34.They used a tonne of gunpowder every week.

:05:35. > :05:37.So this was the journey's end, the original Bristol terminal.

:05:38. > :05:40.The main station today is just over there.

:05:41. > :05:44.The GWR eventually had to adopt the standard gauge track to fit

:05:45. > :05:47.in with the rest of the country but few would argue that in

:05:48. > :05:57.engineering terms, Brunel's railway was the greatest of them all.

:05:58. > :06:00.The country's oldest open`air swimming pool, which is in Bath,

:06:01. > :06:04.The Cleveland Pools fell into disrepair

:06:05. > :06:09.But today, campaigners found out they've been given a third of a

:06:10. > :06:13.million pounds of Lottery money with a promise of ?4 million to follow,

:06:14. > :06:32.Music is getting underway with more images of Iraq. Now the weather for

:06:33. > :06:44.the West. Tomorrow replicating the conditions

:06:45. > :06:50.of today. Some thundery showers. But there will be bright interludes as

:06:51. > :06:54.well. The heavy showers have been pushing off into parts of North

:06:55. > :06:59.Somerset of the Bristol Channel. They are probably going as far as

:07:00. > :07:05.Swindon before too long. We will see more wind as the night continues.

:07:06. > :07:11.Conditions are cool. Tomorrow picks up a similar theme. A succession of

:07:12. > :07:16.showers in some areas. Some thundery. Some dry, bright weather

:07:17. > :07:27.about in other places. Those showers gradually fading. Temperatures

:07:28. > :07:29.struggling somewhat. Fewer showers on Wednesday, heavier ones on

:07:30. > :07:46.Thursday. But it The weather system born out of the

:07:47. > :07:47.remnants of Hurricane Bertha has turned into the party guest