THE only thing creating more clutter than the street furniture clogging Worcester's High Street shopping area is the string of adjectives being used to describe it.

Tired, out-of-date, patched and confused are a handful of reasons why the area's in dire need of renovation.

It's early days in Worcester City Centre Forum's plans to bring High Street back to life, but the revival can't start soon enough.

Although Lychgate's a complete eyesore, most of the rest of the promenade is rich in its architecture.

The trouble is, few people look up at it for fear of becoming a victim in the game of human bagatelle, bouncing off bollards, benches, telephone kiosks, potato vans, lamp-posts, cycle-racks and CCTV camera pillars.

"What sort of scheme we end up with," says county council transport chief Jeff Romanis, "depends on what the people of Worcester want."

We're convinced most people crave a simpler layout which, above all, gives breathing space to shoppers and heritage alike, because it's been a long time since Worcester lost sight of High Street's best features, beyond its variety of shops.

But that's the same of the city in general - its greatest historical or civic jewels marooned amid the fading, the flawed or the patched-up.

That's why the project must be the first step in an holistic renovation of the city centre. There's no reason why today's thinking shouldn't be extended. Indeed, it must be.

The great and the good and the merely interested have long talked about reconnecting the centre to its riverside setting, allowing the cityscape to roll down to the river, as it did until the middle of the last century.

It's been 40 years since we allowed decay, dereliction and demolition to govern what Worcester feels about itself and - more importantly - how visitors see us too.

How much longer before actions speak louder than words?