11/08/2014 BBC Points West


11/08/2014

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Transcript


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Hello. a promising step forward in

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A businessman from Bath, who has built a bypass to avoid

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traffic delays near his home, says more motorists need to use it,

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Mike Watts has spent around ?150,000 on the road,

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A price worth paying, seems to be the overriding opinion,

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for avoiding a long detour ` and an extra 40 minutes' journey time.

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When it opened at the beginning of the month, the toll road attracted

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And now it is attracting drivers from all over, too.

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700 people a day are using it but that needs to increase,

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The road has cost ?150,000 to build and it has cost us ?1,000

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So I am looking at a potential bill for building and running

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Now there are 150 days to go, so at ?2 a car, I have to get 150,000

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cars over the road to make sure my wife and I are not out of pocket.

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7,000 people a day would normally use this part

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of the A431, which has been closed since a landslip in February.

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The only official way round is a 14`mile detour

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which has been causing a headache for motorists for months.

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Over the next few weeks and months, as word spreads about this, it is

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thought even more motorists will take advantage of this especially

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when children go back to school in September but also now because it

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The local council have always said that they would not have been able

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to do this themselves, instead they're concentrating

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But they do recognise the benefits to drivers.

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In the end, we have to say, to Mr Watts, he has taken a bold risk.

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And only time will tell if that is a success or not for him financially.

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It is certainly one that has created a lot of interest.

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The council could not built this road because if we had, we would

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have had to build it to highway standards and this is nowhere

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But that's not concerning motorists, who are just happy to have

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a way round until the main road reopens at Christmas.

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The country's chief vet was in the West today to promote

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the Government's strategy for dealing with bovine TB.

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Actions to be introduced include better measures for keeping badgers

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off farms, stricter cattle tests, and a second pilot badger cull.

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The aim is eventually to eradicate the disease,

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which has led to the slaughter of 11,000 cattle so far this year.

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We're starting to see the epidemic level off.

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It has increased ninefold since the late 90s to 2010.

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We have by no means got on top of the disease, but the cattle measures

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It was built with pickaxes and gunpowder 173 years ago

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The Great Western Railway was one of Brunel's masterpieces.

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And as part one of our series on the region's spectacular feats

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of engineering, Jenhi Osman finds out why it's such an achievement.

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The main concern of passengers here at Paddington is

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Few would have considered the engineering achievement

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Let me take you on a swift journey of discovery.

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This is the driver's view of the line today.

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Just five years later, the line to Bristol was complete.

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It was the longest in the country and known as Brunel's billiard

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But the genius of this was that Brunel in his wisdom had designed

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a wider track, known as a broad gauge, which was almost

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Let's find out about this by stopping at Swindon.

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A wider track meant a lower centre of gravity,

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A broad gauge was good in the sense that if it had come to

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fruition and gone over the whole network, you could have run faster,

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You have to remember that Brunel surveyed the land from Bristol to

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Today, if you were building this railway,

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No helicopters and no heavy engineering machinery then.

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This was a world of pickaxes, shovels, horses and many labourers.

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But the next wonder I want to show you is Box Tunnel outside Bath.

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It is almost two miles long, the longest of its time.

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Some said it would be impossible to build.

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Brunel sank six vertical shafts to allow work to continue

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They used a tonne of gunpowder every week.

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So this was the journey's end, the original Bristol terminal.

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The main station today is just over there.

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The GWR eventually had to adopt the standard gauge track to fit

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in with the rest of the country but few would argue that in

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engineering terms, Brunel's railway was the greatest of them all.

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The country's oldest open`air swimming pool, which is in Bath,

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The Cleveland Pools fell into disrepair

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But today, campaigners found out they've been given a third of a

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million pounds of Lottery money with a promise of ?4 million to follow,

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Music is getting underway with more images of Iraq. Now the weather for

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the West. Tomorrow replicating the conditions

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of today. Some thundery showers. But there will be bright interludes as

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well. The heavy showers have been pushing off into parts of North

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Somerset of the Bristol Channel. They are probably going as far as

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Swindon before too long. We will see more wind as the night continues.

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Conditions are cool. Tomorrow picks up a similar theme. A succession of

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showers in some areas. Some thundery. Some dry, bright weather

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about in other places. Those showers gradually fading. Temperatures

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struggling somewhat. Fewer showers on Wednesday, heavier ones on

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Thursday. But it The weather system born out of the

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remnants of Hurricane Bertha has turned into the party guest

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