THE Anzac Club, one of those Dartmouth businesses to receive a summons to attend court but which paid up before the hearing, had withheld the money as a protest.

Club secretary Bobbie Small said: 'We do not consider the BID to be of any benefit to us at all.

'We are a private members' club, so even if the town is packed with visitors, they cannot come in.'

All businesses which owed the levy were sent two reminders and a final notice before summonses were issued.

But Ms Small said the committee also objected to being sent a summons while the club was still in dispute with South Hams Council over the levy.

'The council seemed to ignore the fact that we were disputing it,' she said.

Mike Burden, commodore of Dartmouth Yacht Club – one of those businesses to receive a liability order – said the club was not making a deliberate protest against the BID.

'We have now paid,' he said.

Dartmouth Conservative Cub received two summonses but settled before the court hearing. Nobody from the club was available to comment.

The National Trust, which was also summonsed, said it had now settled the levy but had nothing further to add.

South Hams Council said on Monday that another batch of summonses would be sent out next week, with a court date of Friday, April 10.

BID manager Francesca Johnson said: 'It is unfortunate that court action was required to collect these outstanding invoices and we are grateful to the continued support of South Hams Council who are managing the collection process for us.

'We continue to urge anyone with queries regarding any aspect of the BID to get in touch with us directly by emailing [email protected]">[email protected].'