ALTON requires a "brand of exclusivity" and possibly even a massive re-structuring of its layout if the financial health of the town is to improve. A meeting between local business-people and the district council revealed last week that there was a "serious" problem with footfall and that Sainsbury's had effectively divided the town in two. East Hampshire District Council leader Andrew Pattie, who chaired the approximately 20- strong meeting last Friday night, said that Alton needed to be "regionalised", and that building a "brand of exclusivity" was integral to this goal. He isolated "three bits of the jigsaw" which he believed would form the basis for Alton's regeneration. First, he argued, there was the town's image: how it was viewed by the outside world in terms of its brand. Then, the "actual experience" of the town, with reference to car- parking, signage and road- and pedestrian- access. Finally, there was the issue of what kind of shops, restaurants and services would be available. One shop owner complained that "there was nothing to drag people into the town", and that diversity in goods and services was being stifled by the disproportionate number of charity shops, cards shops and hairdressers. Another worker said bluntly: "There's nothing different in Alton." John Turner, of Rawlins Opticians, expressed the view that traffic wardens had created a "culture of fear" in the town centre, while Steve Daley, of Alton Sewing Centre, said that he had counted six "To-Let" signs and that "footfall was dropping year on year". Car-parking fees were a recurrent theme, with one attendee saying that the "emphasis on trying to get free parking" for shoppers at certain times was essentially a "band-aid" for a much bigger problem. Vernon Pearce, the manager of Alton Initiatives Management Ltd (AIM), disagreed and laid the blame squarely at the district council's door. "One half of EHDC is supporting the town," he said, "yet the other half, quite honestly, screws the motorists in Alton to maximise their profits." Many of those gathered agreed, however, that Alton's retail success may lie in encouraging the creation of "specialty shops". Sainsbury's dominated much of the debate and was almost unanimously blamed for dividing the town and drawing visitors away from the High Street. One shop owner argued that, for many visitors, Alton was synonymous with the supermarket and little else. "Sainsbury's is out of town," he said. "You can drive in, do your shopping and drive out again without even knowing Alton exists." Mr Pattie agreed that the store was "off- putting" and "a barrier to the retail sector of the town". Unlike Petersfield, which has a Waitrose that is positioned in the town centre, shoppers from Sainsbury's have to cross two carparks and a road before they reach Alton's shops. "There is something fundamentally wrong with the system," he said, referring to the one-way system encircling the town and the layout of the roads in general. By way of an example, he related his first visit to Alton, saying that the roads were so confusing. "I found myself on the way to Bordon." Admitting that he did not return to the town for two months because of the experience, he said: "If I was a punter who had never come here before, it would scare me to death." David Gay, representing the Alton Chamber of Commerce, suggested that the total pedestrianization of Alton could be an avenue to explore. Using Basingstoke - where shoppers can expect a lengthy walk from their cars to the retail centre - as a comparison, he said that the distances between Alton's car- parks and the High Street were relatively short. But he acknowledged that it was a radical idea that would inevitably cause divisions, if implemented. "Some people would love it," he said. "Some businesses would thrive, others would fail. If we make that significant change, we will affect the way the whole town works." District councillor Bob Chilton agreed that a fundamental re-structuring of the town would have to take place. "What we need is a corporate-style plan," he said. Despite being on the board of Alton Initiatives Management Ltd (AIM), he expressed the view that town initiatives could only do so much and were "small beer" where a large-scale town development was needed. The Tuesday market also came under fire, for supposedly contributing to low sales in Alton businesses. Shop-owners at the meeting said that it was stealing their business and should be moved back into Market Square. AIM manager Mr Pearce made the case that the market "benefits everyone" - it sponsors many town events - and that "footfall on a Tuesday was more than on other days". "But not in the shops!" came the cry from two disgruntled shop owners, one of whom also argued that the market was "bringing in the wrong sort of people". She said that the weekly event was frequented by "mostly kids, and mothers with prams; people from the villages who have nothing better to do, buying two'penny ha'penny stuff". Anna Brocks, who owns a local farm shop and ready meals business, spoke out in defence of Mr Pearce and instead blamed the town's ills on the wider issue of taxation. "Vernon has done a great job getting people into the town," she said. "But we should ask why so many shops are empty. Are the rates too high?" Another meeting has been provisionally scheduled for next February.