Too little, too late for Waterways development

So British Waterways is embarking on a series of design-led initiatives (DW 9 June). That’s one for Salvador Dali, isn’t it? The news story claimed the initiatives were design-led, which intrigued me. Why would a magazine that is devoted to design consider reporting on work that was not design-led?

Businesswise, of course, it was always sheer madness to pack the motorways with commercial traffic, while running down the railways and ignoring the canals. That, however, is the way the world is run – by madmen and idiots.

Unfortunately, business and sense are not terms that necessarily go together. Any alternative form of transport must be a good thing.

But with a paltry £5m being invested, I suspect that the design is nothing more than cosmetic icing on a very cardboard cake.

Paul Divine, Westcliff-on-Sea, Essex SS0 0QB