A senior Dorchester Civic Society member has agreed with the mayor's comments about landlords not maintaining their properties.

Anthony Gannon, who oversees planning issues for the society, says a handful of town centre property owners – which he dubbed "the dirty dozen" – have been lacking in their maintenance, while others do keep the buildings they own in a good condition.

He said that in some cases there was so much vegetation growing on roofs and gutters they could probably mow it.

His comments followed the Mayor of Dorchester, Cllr Alistair Chisholm, complaining about the tatty appearance of the town and condition of some properties, for which he was criticised by some fellow councillors.

Mr Gannon said that some of the recent developments in the county town have been good news – including the refurbished county museum; the Shire Hall buildings, now als a museum; the King's Arms and the improved arts offering at the Corn Exchange.

He also welcomed the general trend of bringing accommodation back into the town centre, with some sensible conversions of former offices which, otherwise, might have remained vacant, especially in High West Street.

Mr Gannon also welcomed plans for another Premier Inn on the former Marks and Spencer site in South Street, which he said will boost tourism, and added that the other recent conversions in the area have all been generally commendable.

"After living in town for nearly 50 years I see signs of hope for the centre, especially having survived four major town schemes that all came to naught," he commented.

"A renewed South Station – with lifts to a bridge – would be a cherry on the top."

Cllr Chisholm received a rebuke from fellow councillor Robin Potter for his "depressing views" of the town centre when raising concerns about the state of some of the town centre buildings.

Cllr Potter and others, including the Dorchester Business Improvement District, said in response to the mayor's comments that Dorchester was doing better than many other towns of its size, although BID director Phil Gordon did agree that some landlords could do with a gentle reminder to keep their properties in a decent condition.