Dorchester Mayor Alistair Chisholm has been challenged over his claims that parts of the town centre are looking down at heel.

He told a town council meeting: “The state of the town centre at the moment is very poor, it might only need a lick of paint, but getting a lot of the landlords to do that is difficult.

“It’s not just the empty shops but the way it all looks – it’s not something we can be proud of,” he said.

His comments led to senior councillor Robin Potter saying he was disappointed by the mayor’s “depressing attitude” with his comments about the state of the town centre.

“We are all proud of our town. There are things which need tidying up and some shops have been empty for a while but generally it is very good,” said Cllr Potter, a former planning committee chairman and past mayor.

Dorchester's business group (BID) has taken a similar view, saying that, generally the town is mostly tidy and doing well.

Support for the current mayor came from Cllr David Taylor who told the meeting: “Some landlords just don’t seem to take care of their properties. We need to start shaking them up and tell them to put their house in order and that will help investment in our town.”

He said his experience was that most property owners only really paid attention to their profit levels and were reluctant to ensure buildings they owned were kept in a good condition, unless forced to do so.

Planning and environment chairman Cllr Ralph Ricardo said the recent announcement by Whitbread that it would bring a multi-million pound investment to the former Marks & Spencer site in South Street with a new hotel showed investors did have confidence in the town: “Many High Streets have been badly battered by internet shopping and the pandemic – but compared to others we have done well,” he said.

Cllr Molly Rennie said the town had much to attract visitors including a popular cinema whose pricing structure brought in people from far and wide; several museums, Maiden Castle and connections with Thomas Hardy and the Romans. She said Dorchester was also well positioned to welcome extra visitors because of the current Channel 5 TV programme about Dorset.

BID director Phil Gordon says that in the last 18 months the town has seen more than 22 new shops and businesses open.

“The Dorchester BID has been trying to play its part in both supporting the town’s businesses but also helping to brighten and smarten up the town in different ways. We currently have the beautiful hanging baskets up which is a partnership project with the town council and our Keeper of the Walks, Scot (a partnership project with Dorset Council) is always trying to smarten up and remove some of the detritus but of course, there is so much around at this time of the year.

“We can of course, all complain to the council pointing out the weed that grows from the kerb or the discarded wrapper that blows down South Street or indeed the state of one or two of the building in town that are seemingly ignored by their owners and allowed to slide into disrepair but, I believe we should also take some community responsibly too, doing what we can. Finding out who owns a particular building that needs some TLC and perhaps writing to the owner in a friendly, encouraging manner might be a good way forward to start to effect change. If every building owner in town spent a few minutes every month doing a quick removal of weeds from gutters, or perhaps devise a schedule of painting and renovation then, bit by bit, things would improve,” said Mr Gordon.

“I think we are all deeply proud of Dorchester and what it has to offer but, I also know we all feel a little sad and embarrassed when we see parts of town that are letting the side down. Luckily there are many examples of renovation, improvement and care around the town so perhaps we can all do our bit to encourage, convince and support those who have the power, ownership and resources to address these issues.”

The town council has decided to set up a working group to look at ways of helping reduce the number of vacant properties in the town centre, to improve the look of the area and to develop proposals for events and other initiatives to attract more visitors.