This week marked the launch of two initiatives to “bail out” the Portas Pilots and get the government’s much-maligned high street rescue plan back on track.

On Monday, the Association of Town and City Management (ATCM) was awarded a £1m government contract to “urgently assess” the progress of the 27 Portas Pilots and more than 330 other towns that received funding on the back of her 2011 review.

On the same day, Tesco, Boots, Costa Coffee and John Lewis joined industry bodies including the BRC and the ACS for the first meeting of the Future High Streets Forum. They agreed to draw up a package of measures aimed at slowing the rate of store closures and addressing issues such as business rates and planning.

Sources involved told The Grocer the government had realised it needed to radically overhaul its approach to the high street crisis. Many of the schemes awarded grants - of up to £100,000 - in the wake of the Portas review had not spent any of the money.

“While some of the Portas Pilots and town teams have made progress, others are in a terrible mess,” said one member of the forum, which is jointly chaired by local growth minister Mark Prisk and Alex Gourlay, chief executive of Boots’ health and beauty division.

“We are basically being brought in to bail them out. The government has realised it has a crisis on its hands and we have to do something to tackle it urgently.”

The forum agreed to harness data from retailers, including Boots and Tesco, to help others better understand and compete given the threats posed by the growth of online retailing and out-of-town developments.

Neil McCourt, managing director of Tesco Metro, told those who attended the forum meeting on Monday that Tesco was in “listening and innovating mode” and determined to help.

The ATCM, meanwhile, will bring in teams to provide businesses with better support, training and data as well as oversee the management of the towns.

“It’s gone beyond Portas,” said Martin Blackwell, ATCM chief executive. “The review set a lot of things in motion but we’ve outgrown it and this is very much about what happens now.”

The contract won by ATCM was initially set to be awarded in early February, but was delayed due to a higher than expected number of applications.

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