THE moving date for AltonÕs Tuesday market to the High Street has been put back by three weeks pending a stamp of approval from Hampshire County Council.

A revised date of September 24 has been flagged up as the latest the relocation can take place to enable the market to become established in time for the Christmas rush.

News of the delay has raised fears that, should the date slip further, the move from the Market Square will be postponed until next April, by which time many of the existing traders will have given up hope. They view a transfer to the High Street as a lifeline which will put their ailing market back on track.

According to Alton town clerk Steve Parkinson: ÒThere is real concern among many of them that, if they do not relocate, they will not be in business here by the spring.Ó

Keen to secure a brighter future for its regular traders and to encourage new blood, Alton Town Council has granted a licence to Alton Initiatives Management (AIM) Ltd to take over the running of the Tuesday market in the High Street on a six-month trial basis.

Convinced that it will be able to treble the size of the existing market within the first six weeks, AIM Ltd has appointed Southern Market Traders Co-operative (SMT) to operate the market on the companyÕs behalf.

The race is now on, however, to secure a temporary road closure licence, to operate on Tuesdays between 6 am and 6 pm from the entrance to Lady Place car park, opposite Somerfield, to the junction with Turk Street.

According to AIM manager Gail Grant, East Hampshire District CouncilÕs licensing department has worked hard to meet the original target date of September 3. Officers have carried out all necessary consultations and received no objections. They are waiting, however, for written consent from Hampshire County Council, whose officers are ultimately responsible for rubber stamping the process.

It is a process which normally takes six weeks but which, in this case, appears to be taking considerably longer.

AIM has also consulted, not just with market traders, but with retailers, residents, bus and taxi companies - all of whom will be affected by the move.

A High Street market steering group has been set up, the taxi companies concerned are said to be happy to relocate on Tuesdays to the car park behind Woolworth, and the bus company concerned has agreed in principle to introduce a temporary Tuesday route which would enable passengers to disembark on DraymanÕs Way, opposite SainsburyÕs.

However, they are under licence to HCC to run certain routes and the ultimate decision will lay with the council/

But it has been impossible to move the process forward without the final go-ahead from HCC. With only two weeks to go before the hoped for deadline of September 3, the AIM manager has been forced to postpone the date to give time to complete the necessary arrangements.

The hold-up in processing the street closure licence has had a knock-on effect since AIM, which is a non-profit making organisation, has been unable to commit to expenditure needed, for example, to install electrics, pay for road closure signs, and to advertise the new location.

ÒWe have to make sure it is going to happen before we can go ahead and spend any money,Ó explained the manager who views September 24 as the last date on which the move can reasonably take place.

The market traders are 100 per cent behind the move. Les Benjamin, who has sold sweets and biscuits in Alton for more than 32 years, believes the move could prove the solution to all their problems. He believes that while the Market Square location has suffered ever since the one-way system was installed in the High Street, the demise of markets in general is Òa sign of the timesÓ.

He works Basingstoke market where, he says, the precinct location ensures good passing trade, while in Fareham a move to the High Street Òis one of the best things they have ever doneÓ.

ÒWe have got to be prepared to move with the times rather than stand still - we must be prepared to relocate,Ó he said.

Fellow trader Eddie Clark, a specialist for 30 years in vacuum cleaner spares, is of a similar mind. He trades at several markets in the area, including Blackbushe, and assures that it is not just Alton which is feeling the pinch. The High Street move, he feels, could prove the boost Alton needs to get back on its feet.

Steve Sanghera, another regular who has sold clothes in Alton since 1970, agrees that the market is missing out on passing trade. And, he fears, that a six-month delay in relocation will put unnecessary strain on existing traders.

With Christmas trading starting in earnest from mid October, Mr Sanghera urges the Ôpowers that beÕ to ensure that the move does take place by the end of September at the latest, to allow a few weeks for the market to become established in time for the seasonal rush.

In a bid to reassure existing High Street shopkeepers that the change should be of as much benefit to them as the market traders, butcher Glen Davies reitterated that other towns have benefited from a High Street market.

ÒShopkeepers may not take kindly to the relocation at first but it should increase trade for market traders and shopkeepers alike. It will create a better atmosphere and a busier High Street which should attract different types of shoppers, to the benefit of everyone in the townÓ

A market trader for 20 years, Mr Davies also said that he had worked in markets run by SMT which, he assured, had always been well managed.