IT'S over – after 45 years Weymouth and Portland Borough Council has held its last full meeting.

The authority will disappear at the end of the March to be replaced by the new unitary Dorset Council and a new town council for Weymouth.

Councillors posed for one last photo at their meeting on Thursday evening with Mayor Cllr Gill Taylor thanking councillors and officers who had served over the last four decades.

She said that since 1974 there had been a huge amount of changes in the area but it remained a lovely place to live.

Tributes were also paid to council staff, some who had stayed for thirty of forty years. She said most were still as passionate about their work as when they started and she hoped those who wanted to would transfer either to the new Dorset Council or the new Weymouth Town Council.

Portland councillor Phil Kimber was singled out for being the longest-serving current councillor having represented his area for 36 years.

“What has to be remembered is that we are all volunteers,” said Cllr Taylor.