RUMOURS abound that plans are being drawn up to revitalise struggling Whitefriargate.

And I'm not talking about the Portas Pilot bid, which aims to share a relatively miniscule £1 million pot between 12 dying high streets – a mere fig leaf on the giant flabby nakedness of Hull city centre's problems.

The real progress, to my mind, seems to be Hull City Council's embryonic idea for a market down the centre of the street – helping to reinvigorate a café culture in old Hull.

Rate subsidies for new restaurants on pretty Whitefriargate will no doubt help. It's a start.

Here's my eight-point plan to transform Hull into a world-class tourist Mecca within five years:

1) Build Hull's answer to the Angel Of The North on the marina. Call it the Colossus Of Hull.

2) Build a pyramid by Monument Bridge, turning the historic city walls into an attraction.

3) Press ahead with the Jungle, the sister attraction to The Deep.

4) Start a cultural trail of statues, starting with legend Mick Ronson in Queens Gardens.

5) Develop an arena next to the KC Stadium.

6) Let empty buildings in Whitefriargate and in the Fruit Market at peppercorn rates.

7) A yearly toad festival.

8) If we can put a man on the moon, we can put a roof on Whitefriargate.

Of course, all of these things are window dressing to the most pressing problem blighting the city's revitalisation – the way that Castle Street garrottes the city centre, starving it of life.

Sort that and the rest will follow.