ALTON Town Council’s Policy and Resources (P&R) Committee has agreed in principle to consider a new project to help rejuvenate the High Street.

The proposal to set up an Alton Creative Emporium has been borne out of a desire by the council to address recurring concerns over the state of the High Street, fuelled by the negative impact of vacant retail units and the high cost of rent and rates, prohibiting new businesses from opening.

According to town clerk Leah Coney, the aim is to take a minimum five-year lease on an empty unit in the town centre and then offer short-term licences to small business owners and start-ups, to help them onto the first rung of the ladder.

A feasibility report to P&R suggested the unit could “showcase local artisans, bringing them into the town, providing a high street presence for their products, working from a retail unit shared with a small number of other traders, with the additional benefit of offering workshop/experience space.”

Said Mrs Coney: “There is an expectation that, if traders can be successful, their businesses can be nurtured to help enable them to go on to open their own shop.”

The town council would look to secure a unit of around 1,000sqft, dividing the shop floor into up to five pop-up spaces at a rental of around £85 per week (including utilities) on a simple licence, to occupy the vacant space.

There would be a minimum licence of one month on a rolling monthly occupancy thereafter, with one month’s rent upfront to secure a space.

The unit may also include first-floor experience space, also enabling makers to offer workshops to private groups.

While the council’s draft budget already includes a project cost of £20,000 a year for three years, if it is a goer it was agreed to explore additional sources of funding to support the initiative.

According to the town clerk, there were a number of examples of this concept working elsewhere in the country, offering pop-up spaces for single shops to makers’ markets, where a number of businesses come together in a single unit.

The unit could be run on a co-operative type basis with businesses working together to maintain the space, staff it and promote it.

Said Mrs Coney: “At this stage we are quite flexible on the potential use of the space, and would like to invite small local businesses to complete an expression of interest form to gauge the level of occupancy we may be able to achieve.”