OWNERS of holiday homes in the New Forest will be hit in the pocket by huge council tax rises.

Council bosses are to slash the discount on bills for second homeowners from 50 per cent to just ten per cent.

The Forest has 1,500 second homes - more than any other district in Hampshire.

People who have second homes in the average Band D category face their bills rising from around £533 to about £960 - depending on which parish they are in.

Government ministers have opened the door to a reduction in the discount with the percentage to be fixed by each local authority.

New Forest Council's ruling Cabinet has agreed to ask for the discount to be cut from 50 per cent to ten per cent, which would make the authority an extra £75,000 a year. The rest would be shared between Hampshire County Council and the police and fire services.

Council leader Mel Kendal said he had asked Hampshire County Council leader Ken Thornber for the county's additional income from the Forest to be spent in the district.

He said: "On the same lines, we would like to see the police using their additional money in the community.

"It would be a very useful windfall and it could pay for at least two community wardens and I would initially like to see them based in Hythe and Dibden and New Milton."

Some doubts over the move to ten per cent discount were expressed by economy and planning portfolio holder Jeremy Heron.

With houses that are classified as having just one person living in them eligible for a 25 per cent discount, he warned: "If people have a holiday home, they will say one person lives here and the other in their home in London."

Opposition leader Maureen Robinson stressed the need to reduce the number of empty homes. She said: "Every empty home is a home someone should be living in and I think we should be working to achieve that."