THE New Forest National Park Authority has agreed to fund five Land Rovers to give the organisation a "presence on the ground".

The branded vehicles would be used by Agisters, who oversee the management of animal grazing and look after the welfare of livestock in the open forest.

Heading off accusations that the move could harm the new authority's green credentials, its director of conservation insisted the vehicles must run on bio-diesel, a more expensive but cleaner fuel.

Stephen Trotter told the authority's first annual meeting that the Verderers - the guardians of the New Forest - had asked for help with financing the Land Rovers for their five Agisters.

He said they claimed hard-top Land Rovers were the only vehicles fit for the job, which included towing 3.5 tonne trailers off-road and recovering animals.

Mr Trotter said they would help to promote conservation, raise the authority's profile, create a better understanding of the national park in dealings with the public and Commoners, and act as "eyes and ears" in the forest.

Authority members agreed to hand over up to £12,500 a year towards the £38,000 cost of lease-buying the vehicles.

Mel Kendal, deputy chairman of the authority, said: "It's the first example that we've got of where we can add value to a group doing good work but who need some form of financial assistance."

He said jointly branding the vehicles with national park and Verderers' logos and making information available from them would give the authority a "fairly cheap" way of having a "presence on the ground."

Agisters are paid about £15,000 through the Forestry Commis-sion to carry out their daily duties.

They must keep at least two horses, a stock trailer and maintain an "appropriate vehicle" for the job.

The Verderers said the grant was a positive demonstration of the authority's support for commoning

Verderer's spokesman Oliver Crosthwaite Eyre said: "This is excellent news and we are delighted that the members of the National Park Authority have offered this financial help to us."

The New Forest National Park Authority has agreed to keep ten per cent of its annual £4m budget in reserve to cover any future financial problems.