Statute Law Repeals - Law Commission - Ministry of Justice

Kensington, Chelsea and Fulham Roads (Tolls) Act (1725)
6.28 Until the late nineteenth century, Britain had no national framework for
maintaining its highways. For much of the 17 th , 18 th and 19th centuries, roads
were repairable by the population at large, with every able-bodied man being
subject to six days a year of unpaid labour repairing the roads. The inefficiency of
the statute labour system left most roads poorly repaired and maintained.
Turnpikes were an alternative method of road administration and were first used
in 1663. 55 A turnpike was a toll-gate set up across a road, with travellers along
that road being able to pass through the gate only upon payment of a toll. The
revenue collected from tolls would be used to repair and maintain the road.
6.29 The Kensington, Chelsea and Fulham Roads (Tolls) Act of 1725 56 was passed to
authorise the charging of tolls at turnpikes along specified roads in Kensington,
Chelsea and Fulham in order to secure the repair of those roads. Under the
terms of the Act, the authority to charge tolls was to expire no later than 31 May
1747. Since the repair of the roads pursuant to the Act was dependent upon the
receipt of those tolls, it follows that the Act as a whole has served no useful
purpose for at least 260 years. 57
Fulham Roads Acts of 1730 and 1749
6.30 As explained above in relation to the Kensington, Chelsea and Fulham Roads
(Tolls) Act of 1725, the maintenance of Britain’s highways for much of the 17 th ,
18 th and 19 th centuries was attended to on a local basis, sometimes by means of
tolls chargeable at turnpikes. The Fulham Roads Acts of 1730 and 1749 were
turnpike Acts passed to raise money to repair the road between Fulham and
Hammersmith. The preamble to the 1730 Act 58 recorded that this road “is
become so ruinous and bad, in the Winter Season, that the same cannot … be
sufficiently repaired and amended”. The Act appointed trustees to repair the road
and authorised them to levy tolls until May 1752. However, the debts incurred by
the trustees (£550) were such that the 1749 Act 59 had to be passed to extend
their authority to levy tolls to May 1773. Under the terms of the 1749 Act, both
Acts were to expire on or before May 1773. It follows that neither Act has served
any useful purpose for about 240 years, and their formal repeal is now proposed
on that basis.
54 50 pence in modern currency.
55 This turnpike was in Wadesmill in Hertfordshire.
56 12 Geo.1 c.37.
57 In fact one part of the Act was extended by the St George Hanover Square Improvement
Act of 1813 (53 Geo.3 c.xxxviii, s 3). This 1813 Act, however, was short-lived and was
repealed by the St George Hanover Square Improvement Act of 1826 (7 Geo.4 c.cxxi), s 1.
58 4 Geo.2 c.34.
59 23 Geo.2 c.10.
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