HAMPSHIRE council taxpayers may find themselves picking up a £1 million-plus bill for the Battle of Dibden Bay.

Southampton City Council has already made a £300,000 provision to cover its legal and technical costs of assessing Associated British Ports' plans to build a huge container port between Hythe and Marchwood.

Yesterday, New Forest District Council lined up a £400,000 commitment. Hampshire County Council's figure would be somewhere around the £500,000 mark.

District leader Simon Hayes said: "It is a question of protecting the interests of the people of the Forest and further afield as well."

New Forest District Council took its financial decision after a day of meetings about the Bay at the Waterside Theatre near Fawley.

But deputy leader Mel Kendal, who proposed the figure, said the money was not "a budget to battle against the Bay".

He stressed: "It is to evaluate the applications by Associated British Ports and respond to them."

The Forest council did, however, object to the proposals and has sent a long list of concerns to Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott, who is also Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions.

Concerns included the industrialisation of the strategic gap between Hythe and Marchwood and the loss of wildlife habits.

District planners, who approved the list before it was ratified by full council, were also worried about the impact on the A326 which links Hythe, Fawley, Marchwood, Totton and other parishes with the M27 and Southampton. There were fears, too, over the impact of extra trains on level crossings at Totton and Marchwood.

Air and light pollution, noise, dust and damage from dredging to the fish of Southampton Water and the River Test and the impact on land drainage were also listed. So, too, were the impact on recreation, tourism and leisure.