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Town of Claremont councillors approved a $40,000 plan last week to install bollards along Gugeri Street to ease blocking of traffic to create an outdoor venue.

Mrs Harvey said the move would ‘open up’ the area for people to experience what the business hub had to offer.

‘It’s about bringing back that vibrancy to Claremont,’ she said. ‘We’d like to encourage people to come to the Claremont area, and the idea would be to hold a lot more events and functions.

‘It’s possibly been frustrating for people to get around while work has been going on but it has been done for the benefit of people to now come back again. It is a buzzing place now and (the space) would provide for more of that to happen.’

She said the business group was currently considering potential uses for the site, including markets and food festivals.

‘We are now starting to pull some ideas together,’ she said.

Claremont Mayor Jock Barker said he was keen to see alfresco dining as a tool to reactivate the strip.

‘It will be a bit like that little side street in Fremantle near the markets ” it will just enable restaurateurs and providers of food to increase their floor space at no rental increase,’ he said.

‘Perhaps even stalls, if there’s not enough restaurants in the vicinity. I would want to see other people utilising that space and I don’t see why some of the other restaurants couldn’t use an alfresco area even if they’ve got to walk the food up 100m or so to the diners.’

Mr Barker said the business community would dictate how often the space was closed off for use.

‘The business people involved will be making a recommendation to the council as to how often it should be done,’ he said. ‘It’s not going to be councillors saying this is what’s happening.

‘It’s going to be business driven.’

At last Tuesday’s meeting, Cr Paul Kelly said he backed multiuse of the new Bay View area. Cr Jill Goetze said she too supported the plan because it had come from the business community.