Dorchester councillor Molly Rennie has described new domestic abuse legislation 'a miracle moment.'

The long-time campaigner and Dorset Council domestic abuse champion says that new laws, due to come into force next month, will help tackle the scourge of violence in the home.

Dorset has already been given £50,000 to help prepare for the new laws and another £650,000 to help find safe emergency accommodation.

Cllr Rennie said that so far there had been no specific guidance about how the money should be used but that it was welcomed and the county already had good systems and procedures in place which it could build on.

She said it was not even certain if the funding was one-off, or would be continued to be paid annually.

"Ideally what we need to know is if we're going to get continuing support so we can have an annual line in the budget for the work," she said.

"This Bill will set the route map for us…it's a miracle moment to see these new laws come into place."

Cllr Rennie paid tribute to the council staff and local agencies working with the victims and perpetrators of domestic violence.

She said there was no doubt that they had saved many lives in the county.

She said that the new legislation called for the setting up of a new partnership board to oversee the new legislation but said that extending the role of the existing Community Safety Partnership might be a better way ahead for the county.

"We don't need to re-invent the wheel …there are already people and organisations in Dorset working well and delivering programmes," she said.

The measures in the Bill seek to promote awareness and to legislate for the first time for a statutory definition of domestic abuse; to protect and support victims, including by introducing a new Domestic Abuse Protection Notice and Order; to transform the justice response, including helping victims to give evidence in the criminal courts through the use of video cameras, screens and other special measures, and ensuring that victims of abuse do not suffer further trauma in family court proceedings by being cross-examined by their abuser.