SOUTHAMPTON port bosses are facing calls to open Dibden Bay to the public following the collapse of plans for a £600m container terminal.

Campaigners say the 500-acre site would provide the Waterside - one of the most densely populated parts of Hampshire - with an ideal leisure area.

Dibden Bay is currently closed to the public, despite being part of the proposed New Forest National Park.

Proposals by Associated British Ports (ABP) to build a massive dock development on the land were thrown out by the government last month.

Experts say the decision has left ABP with a huge site that is virtually worthless in commercial terms.

Dibden Bay is part of the strategic gap between Hythe and Marchwood and any plan to build housing there would almost certainly be rejected.

Now Waterside residents are calling for the site to be opened up for public use. They hope ABP will eventually agree to sell the land to Hampshire Wildlife Trust or Hampshire County Council, which has a strategy to preserve coastal areas.

Today the county council said it had not ruled out buying Dibden Bay as an area for public use.

Maureen Robinson, leader of the opposition Liberal Democrat group on New Forest Council, said: "Why can't it be put into public ownership, which would enable it to be protected and managed properly for wildlife and public access?"

But the company currently has no plans to sell the site.