CUT junk mail - tick the NO box on your electoral registration form.

The annual forms will soon be arriving on doormats throughout the New Forest.

For the first time electors can opt for their names to be excluded from a version of the electoral roll which can be sold commercially to marketing organisations.

Electoral registration officers will in future have to compile two versions of the roll - a full version and an edited version.

The full version can only be used for credit checking, crime prevention and other electoral purposes, while the edited version can be sold to anyone - including the junk-mailers.

Local electoral registration officer Dave Yates said: "I urge all residents to complete their forms carefully.

"If they do not tick the correct box on the form, their details will appear on the edited register which will be sold on.

"A leaflet will be delivered with the registration form to every household, explaining the opt-out provisions."

Mr Yates said local authorities nationwide had had complaints from householders about the electoral roll being used by businesses to target their unsolicited mail, and this was a move to solve the problem.

"Making only the edited version available to commercial enterprises should reduce unwanted mail," he said.