NEW Forest residents will not have to dig as deeply to meet the increased demands on their pockets as their neighbours in Dorset.

East Dorset District Council this week voted to increase its share of the council tax by 4.9 per cent, coming in just a tiny percentage below the government-imposed cap of five per cent.

But New Forest District Council has set its increase at just 3.5 per cent, which is also lower than other neighbouring districts, including a 3.9 per cent rise in West Dorset and 4.43 per cent in Weymouth and Portland.

The district council figures provide the final part of the total council tax bill for household ers in the coming financial year.

The average bill for a home in the New Forest will go up to 1,401.80 per annum, an increase of £64.15 on last year's total.

The vast majority of the cash raised through the council tax goes to the county council for the services it provides, this year an average of £999 per household will go to Hampshire County Council, an increase of 4.54 per cent from 2007/8.

The police authority rise has this year hit an inflation-busting 8.1 per cent as the force attacked the settlement from central govern ment that left it with a huge shortfall.

The fire brigade precept makes up the remainder of the tax and will go up by 3.5 per cent, taking the average rise in terms of the whole bill to 5.99 per cent for the average household in the county.

New Forest District Council leader Mel Kendal said: "For a number of years we have been working on a number of cost saving effi ciencies involving administration staff rather than frontline services and these are starting to come through now."

He said the increase in the council tax would have been even lower if it were not for the extra cash that has to be found to fund the new style subsidised bus schemes brought in by the Government.