SO, 20 'eligible' voters in Burrator compel the local parish to some £800 expenditure on a poll of residents' attitudes to the Euro.

A third of the total number attending the meeting was not eligible to vote. However, these individuals presumably intended to express their views and may have influenced the eventual outcome.

This 'story' has featured on the front page of your newspaper at least twice in recent weeks.

Given that there is to be a national referendum on the subject,the real story is the extent to which a tiny minority is seeking to persuade local communities to waste money on such meaningless exercises. (Please spare us an exchange of letters on the subject of democracy.)

The time, effort and money would be much better spent in seeking to establish a proper infrastructure for business to be conducted across Europe from Devon and Cornwall.

The nearest airport with reasonable access to business centres in Europe is Bristol and it is no surprise that it is expanding so rapidly.

It is issues like this that should be occupying the minds of all who live and work in Devon or Cornwall.

It will have a much greater impact on our well-being and prosperity than whether the unit of currency with which we buy our bread is called a pound or a Euro or, indeed, anything else.

Mike Sainsbury

111 Whitchurch Road

Tavistock