I was heartened to read in your pages of a renewed plan to upgrade the drab Worcester Street area of Oxford (Oxford Mail, March 31).

A tastefully designed new development, with a reopened and active canal basin as a central feature, would do wonders for an unlovely part of Oxford, with its untidy and featureless car park. I owned an ex-working narrowboat for many years and ran it commercially as a hostel boat.

I visited Oxford many times, but mooring at the abrupt end of the canal, which lacked all facilities, was always an anti-climax for all on board.

How much nicer to have been able to tie up near the heart of this historic city in a safe and secure environment, for which we would have gladly paid for the privilege.

I look forward to reading of further developments on this exciting and enlightened scheme.

Oliver Lovell Moreton-in-Marsh Gloucestershire