DORCHESTER Civic Society is backing a quest to restore a section of the town’s high street to its former glory.

Alan Keel, who lives in High East Street, has been making efforts in recent months to get West Dorset District Council to force landlords to take action to improve the state of some of the buildings in the road, which have fallen into a state of disrepair.

He said he has lived in the town most of his life and remembered a time when he was a teenager and the bottom end of the high street was thriving with popular, well- presented shops and well-kept buildings.

Mr Keel, who moved into High East Street around two-and-a-half years ago, said: “It was quite a nice part of town but it has just declined – and then I ended up moving here.”

He said he began to take action as he was determined to improve an area of the town that was full of historical importance.

Mr Keel said: “Dorchester high street has got the most listed buildings of any high street in the country.

“So looking around I thought it was all looking a bit sad and obviously it has been allowed to worsen.”

For around 18 months Mr Keel has been putting pressure on West Dorset District Council to use its powers to force landlords to take action in the case of some of the dilapidated buildings in the street. He said that, after a mixed start, he had achieved some successes and the street was definitely going in the right direction.

Mr Keel said: “To be fair they have prompted people and it has obviously had some effect as there has definitely been an improvement, probably by the majority of the owners.”

Mr Keel said he had no issues with the businesses in High East Street and welcomed the trade they brought to the area, as opposed to shops sitting empty.

He said it was the landlords of the buildings who were the ones that needed to take action.

Mr Keel’s efforts were recognised by the Dorchester Civic Society and, after being invited by chairman Alan Rowley to get involved, he has now been elected onto the committee. He has also made efforts to get Dorchester Town Council to take action and the Dorchester Joint Heritage Committee.

He said there has been discussions on some ideas such as an awards scheme, although Mr Keel has urged the town council to do more.

He also said the district council is under a legal obligation to act to improve the air quality in High East Street.

  • CHAIRMAN of the Dorchester Civic Society Alan Rowley praised the work Mr Keel has been doing in High East Street.

He said the street was clearly of importance due to the vast number of listed buildings and hopes Mr Keel’s actions to get some landlords to improve their properties would have a ‘ripple effect’ that would spread to others.

Mr Rowley recognised the main problem was it was often the landlords who were responsible for the upkeep and not the tenants who lived in the properties or who ran businesses from them on a day-to-day basis.

He said: “So much of these are tenanted buildings so it’s about getting the landlords to do the repairs.”