WHAT depressing reading! It does remind me of the saying 'what goes around comes around', writes Bill Ridgeway.
After the demise of profitable canal carrying there was not the political will to repair the structure and we lost many miles of canal to cruising and walking.Vastly improved
That was until the preservation movement started and, with the help of the British Waterways Board, the state of the system was vastly improved. It is now seemingly turning again into decline.
What of the future? Pessimists will say this is the beginning of the end of canals. Optimists will say it's been turned around once and it can be done again. The truth—only time will tell.