IT WAS once one of Southampton and Hampshire’s largest employers.

The giant Ford plant at Swaythling now stands almost silent compared to its heyday when it employed thousands of workers on the famous Ford Transit Van.

Something of a white elephant now to drivers along the M27, the building stands as a sentinel to a bygone era when large manufacturers dominated the industrial landscape.

The same could be said of many cities, of course. Portsmouth for instance is losing its shipbuilding.

But where that near neighbour has been given a government minister to fight for the city’s future, Southampton’s loss has not been considered so high profile or of similar importance.

Today this paper reports how the site is finally going on sale and it is to be hoped this will lead to a regeneration in the area.

What will emerge we must wait to see.

But the city region should fight hard for a new occupant that will make good use of such an important and historic industrial landmark.