WE have always said that the transformation of Church Street into a pedestrian thoroughfare decorated with street art was a good idea.

But actually getting the five sculptures -- first unveiled just a few weeks after the millennium celebrations -- into place has been a complete farce.

Any feelgood factor has been diluted as the project dragged on and on beset by problems and delays.

The rest of the work on the £2.5million first phase of the scheme was finished in April last year but the public relations opportunities offered have been totally erased by an extra year's wait for the sculptures to be finished.

Heads would surely have rolled if such mismanagement had occurred in a private business.

Whether the wait was worth it is a very subjective matter -- one person's Michaelangelo is another's Rolf Harris - and our random selection of opinions today is mixed.

But it's probably fair to say that the overall look is interesting, if a little grey.

What should bring the whole place alive is completion of the Pavilions revamp without any more ridiculous delays.

Then perhaps attention can be paid to cleaning up the derelict former store opposite and other untidy facades between there and the shabby entrance to long-neglected Lord Square.

And finally we might be well on the way to having an upgraded chunk of the town centre that we can all be proud of.