The state of the Maltings is possibly the most talked-about issue in Uttoxeter at the minute - and one look at it shows just why that is the case.

Twenty years ago, the picture was looking comparatively rosy at the row of shops linking the Maltings car park to the top of High Street.

The shops in situ included record store Tracks, where music fans could go to buy the latest music.

It was once a very successful business, but suffered in the digital music revolution which has seen online streaming and downloads far exceed sales of CDs.

Then we had Lowndes Fruits, a cherished shop where townsfolk flooded to buy their groceries, and Staffordshire Cobblers for shoe repairs.

Toymaster was always a draw for youngsters and sold a fantastic range of products to keep them entertained, while the town's Tesco store stood in the 1990s where Peacocks is now located.

Now the picture is very, very different. One side of the precinct has no shops whatsoever and is now encased in tall metal hoardings to stop the campaign of vandalism that has plagued the empty units.

If there is one thing townsfolk want at the minute, it is for the Maltings to be resurrected into something that looks respectable again.

The first thing to stop is the vandalism - and it is encouraging that owner MJ Barrett, the town council, Thomas Alleyne's High School, Trent and Dove Housing and the police have met to start down that road.

All the glass fell out of the window of the former Lowndes Fruits shop in the Maltings, Uttoxeter, on Sunday, May 6. It is thought a hole had been made at the bottom of the pane the previous night.

Hopefully, the police's new covert action and increased patrols will stop vandals putting windows through and, as has happened recently, attacking the hoardings protecting the empty units.

MJ Barrett has planning permission to redevelop the Maltings and its bosses say the vandalism is hampering their efforts to bring new shops, flats and offices to the precinct.

So once that side of things is tackled, people in town would dearly love to see that redevelopment take place.

The plan is to bring in two major retailers to fill the currently-vacant side of the Maltings, then build the flats and offices above the retail units.

It is a shame that, in a town which last year won a national Britain in Bloom Award, there is an area that looks so unappealing.

But let us be optimistic and concentrate on the positive - this latest mutli-agency action could be the start of the clean-up and revamp so desperately needed in the Maltings.