Travelling families who need to move from Dorchester to a new site on the outskirts of the town have won the backing of the town council to get power to their homes.

The site, off Slyers Lane at Cokers Frome, already has other services, including permission for its own sewage works, but according to Dorchester town councillor Alistair Chisholm, getting electrical power has proved difficult.

He told the town council that the fairground families, who for decades have been based at the old Flax Factory site in St George's Road ,Dorchester, are having to move because their site, based around an old barn, is being re-developed for housing.

He said their new location, near the junction between the Slyers Lane and the Cokers Frome farm road, known as The Hawthorns, had got everything needed on the 2.4 hectare site – apart from electricity.

Cllr Chisholm claimed that was being held up although there was a pressing need as the families had no option other than to move and many had children of school age.

"Of course, being travelling families, they have generators and will, if needs must, be able to produce their own power, but it's not ideal.

"They have found themselves in a pickle through the actions, or in-actions of others and deserve our support," he told a town council meeting.

Cllr Stella Jones said the site the group want to move to had been used for more than 50 years by travelling families and was recognised as such in the local plan.

Other councillors said they were happy for the town council to offer a letter of support to get mains electricity installed, possibly along the verge if crossing a landowner's field was an obstacle.

Cllr Fiona Kent-Ledger said there was already a power supply, on poles, in the area, and could not understand the difficulty.

Cllr Frances Hogwood was also content to support the families. She said that using generators was not a good solution long-term and would cause pollution in the area.