I FOLLOW with interest the letters regarding BID.

One thing does seem apparent to me after talking to several shopkeepers and getting their views is, the similarity between the BID organisation and membership of the EU.

Both organisations incur costs to the members. In the case of BID a further tax or levy to be spent by a few with no say available to the people contributing. Likewise, the astronomical amount the UK pays to the EU is also spent by an unelected ‘gang’, for want of a word, on projects admittedly beneficial to many but also on other projects that are merely of a self- promoting nature.

How much of the money collected by BID will actually benefit the donors? Surely in the climate of the high street degeneration, councils should encourage new traders by reducing business rates and rents.

My Dad, a man of a few words, once told me, tongue in cheek, “We should collect all the money up in the world and share it out equally. Then, when I’ve spent mine we should collect it up again and share it out again”.

This is exactly the philosophy of the EU. Let the more successful countries contribute vastly more amounts than they are likely to receive in investment and bail out those countries who most likely didn’t satisfy the financial criteria for EU membership anyway.

Successful countries should not be penalised to try and create some kind of Utopia!

Paul Ayers, Elmstead Park, East Cholderton