ALTON councillors fear for the town's developing cafe culture following East Hampshire District Council's intention to levy a licence fee for the siting of tables and chairs on pedestrian highways. As reported in The Herald, EHDC agreed in March this year to initiate a licence fee of £25 per square metre, with a flat annual renewal fee of £35. Aimed at regularising what is currently an illegal practice, the licensing will introduce a set of standard conditions for the placing of objects on the highway. It will also enable Alton Town Council to apply for an experimental road closure order to improve the safety of the continental style 'piazza' environment it wishes to encourage in the Market Square. As landowner, ATC agreed five and a half years ago to press ahead with this plan but was stopped in its tracks when Hampshire County Council refused to licence an unlawful activity. The introduction of the Licensing Act 2003, which handed over responsibility for licensing to EHDC and put pressure on the licensing system, led to the shelving of the project. In the meantime, local pubs and cafes have run with the Government-led al fresco initiative by putting out tables and chairs to encourage the cafe culture. While recent Government legislation now enables local authorities to licence this practice, the charges levied should only suffice to reimburse reasonable expenses incurred in the process. But some members of ATC's policy and resources committee felt business owners would consider EHDC's charges "too high a price to pay" for providing facilities for the public. Town clerk Steve Parkinson said that to take out a licence fee for the entire Market Square would cost around £20,000. He said: "Even to licence a four metre strip in front of the pubs and restaurants would be around £4,000. Members may consider these sums excessive." In agreeing that ATC was not in a position to pay for a licence for the square, it was agreed to advise individual premises owners to apply for their own licenses. They will have to abide by EHDC's code of conduct, plus any other conditions imposed by ATC, including the need to reserve its right to hold events in the square. It was also agreed to seek an experimental road closure to accompany the process, in the interests of public safety.