Caroline Drew, of Foss Street, Dartmouth, writes:

In the town that I love, I’ve never before witnessed a scene so shameful as a small contingent of noisy adults braying and cheering at what they ­perceived as a victory for their distorted view of democracy.

This was the scene as the directors of the Dartmouth Business Improvement District conceded that the task of ­running the organisation had become impossible in the face of such opposition.

The ‘victors’ were never ­interested in allowing the BID to help the business community, or in making constructive ­suggestions about how BID levy money might be used.

They were only interested in being the big heroes of some pitiful rebel movement. The self-importance of spending time and money on a smear campaign would be funny if it were not so sad. Bravo the People’s Republic of Petty Causes.

I admire the directors of the BID who remained at the end of an horrendously beset year. They were stronger than me – I could only stand nine months of the sheer grind and relentless workload involved. They ­inherited a set of rules that restricted their attempts to make the levy fairer and to resolve issues about boundaries. They tried to find ways to make the BID work for the ­benefit of Dartmouth and did everything they could to listen to what people needed. They were untiring, unpaid and unthanked.

They achieved a lot, despite the constant sniping from that vocal group of opponents, who certainly looked small-minded and cheap in contrast with the quiet dignity with which ­chairman Peter Connisbee explained that there could be no continuation of the BID in its present form.

So, among other things, Dartmouth Green Partner­ships – Dartmouth in Bloom – has lost its BID funding.

And the BID was perhaps the only organisation capable of ­rescuing the tourist information centre, without which I fear for Dartmouth’s commercial future.