CAROLINE DREW of Foss Street, Dartmouth, writes: I write in response to the report of Cllr Roger Chilcott's assertion that shopkeepers should 'get off their backsides and do something for themselves occasionally rather than expect others to do it for them', I am at a loss to know how an elected member of a body whose role it is to serve the town can be so deluded as to think that insults and inaccuracies are going to foster good relations between the council and the people of Dartmouth. Speaking as a shopkeeper, I find it offensive that he should denigrate our efforts to further the interests of the town (such as, say, buying, installing, maintaining, in some cases making, decorations and lights in Foss Street, Union Street, Anzac Street and elsewhere. Or sponsoring, as many businesses do, the festivals – music, comedy, food and regatta. Either he is ignorant of these efforts, or he considers them worthless – and is undiplomatic enough to say so. He also asserts that he hopes those who are criticising the BID now will apologise in five years' time. Well, so do I...because I hope there will be something tangible to show – other than such imponderables as a set of footfall statistics. I hope that the BID will think imaginatively about what their remit allows them to do. They say they have a budget for marketing - but not for Christmas lights. In my opinion, it is absurd not to be able to spend a lot of money on enhancing the town with such things as Christmas lights. This IS a marketing exercise. Spending money on improving the look of the town is all part of advertising the place. And we could have held an even bigger occasion for switching on the lights and this would be a promotional event. Why do certain BID team members have only a narrow set of ideas for how to market our town? It was shopkeepers, by the way, who started Candlelit Christmas and many still work hard to organise it. Instead of becoming defensive and resorting to insults, it would be helpful if both the council and the BID could work out imaginative ways to spend the funds to which business people contribute. I applaud all the work and financial assistance that Nigel and Ann Way have given to the enhancement of the town at Christmas and their continuing efforts to remain calm and professional in the furthering of the BID's objectives. Dartmouth would be a poorer place without them.