THE Boston Tea Party happened because the colonial British government of America wanted to place a tax on the citizens of the American colonial states but without giving them representation in the British parliament Something similar is happening in Malmesbury, where we may be asked to vote on the adoption of a local plan. However, these plans equally affect local business that have no say in the decision making, in fact may affect them more Businesses pay business rates out of all proportion to the regular council tax payer and yet get no benefit from their business rates. They have already paid separately as individuals for the service such as education, roads, police, fire service etc.

And yet as a business, we pay £18,000 business rates and still have to pay another £1,000 for rubbish collection and that does not include the recycling benefits that the domestic ratepayer enjoys On local matters, businesses should benefit from representation, with the number of votes available to them determined by the amount of business rates they pay.

DAVID HENDRY

David Hendry Cars

Malmesbury