Alistair Chisholm was officially invested as the new Mayor of Dorchester at the annual mayor making ceremony in the Corn Exchange on Monday night.

In his first speech as mayor, Cllr Chisholm criticised Dorset Council for being slow to devolve powers and property to town and parish councils.

The new mayor said that the unitary council had failed to allocate more of its resources to town and parishes and "unwisely" only had one member on its Cabinet from the western side of the county, with no representative from the county town or Dorset's largest town, Weymouth.

Cllr Chisholm said that although Dorchester may miss the days when it had more power in its own hands as a borough council, now was a time to look to the future.

"A year when we re-awake our ambition and new sense of purpose," he said.

In his acceptance speech, Cllr Chisholm said he will continue to be an opponent of plans for build 4,000 new homes north of Dorchester, thought likely to be included in the revised Dorset Local Plan, a development he described as "unsustainable".

Outgoing mayor, Cllr Janet Hewitt, who is also against the development, said it was unlikely to help local families with the homes there more likely to be bought as investment properties, or second homes.

Cllr Chisholm, who is also Dorchester's town crier, is an independent councillor on the Liberal Democrat dominated town council. His partner Kate Hebditch, a former mayor herself, will be mayoress for the year.

Tributes were paid during the mayor making ceremony to outgoing mayor, Cllr Hewitt, who has attended more than 280 official functions during her term of office.

According to Cllr Stella Jones, she made history by serving at a time when the country had three different Prime Ministers, celebrated the jubilee of a monarch and the crowing of her successor, who has strong links with Dorchester through the Duchy of Cornwall development at Poundbury.

Cllr Hewitt was praised, in particular, for her work with Ukrainian refugees and for her help in the community with those less fortunate.

Cllr Chisholm referenced Thomas Hardy's Mayor of Casterbridge in his speech, saying that he was honoured to be mayor of the county town which still retained a strong sense of community and had attractions ranging from henge monuments to Roman mosaics, the Bloody Assizes and the Tolpuddle Martyrs, and was known not only for Thomas Hardy, but William Barnes, the Dorset parson-poet.

"Dorchester is England, in a nutshell," he said.

Paying tribute to the many voluntary organisations in the town, he said his two chosen charities during the year would be Dorchester Poverty Action and Mosaic, which supports children who suffer bereavement – something Cllr Chisholm said he could relate to, having lost his father when he was aged thirteen.