CIVIC chiefs and environment leaders are joining forces to save Dibden Bay for ever.

Leader of Hampshire Council Ken Thornber is setting a plan in motion with English Nature to keep developers off the beauty spot.

Whitehall inspector Michael Hurley last month rejected a bid by Associated British Ports (ABP) to build a huge container terminal on the 500-acre site.

Many campaigners fear the land - a popular habitat with several rare birds - will come a cropper in the future if action is not taken.

ABP has publicly admitted it still plans to use the site for port development.

Now Mr Thornber is battling to put the land permanently off limits.

He will raise a motion in the next full council meeting on July 22 to have the land taken off the County Structure Plan - which would make building on Dibden Bay illegal.

Mr Thornber will urge members to back the bid by highlighting efforts being taken by English Nature to have the land assigned as a Special Protection Area.

The environment watchdog has just completed a five-year observation of the site inhabited by rare duck breeds including teal and wigeons. Conservation officer Chris McMullon said 3,000 wigeon - protected under the international Birds Directive law - populate Dibden Bay. The shoreline is already a special protection area.

Mr McMullon's team believe the area should be extended right across the Bay.

He said: "There's a good case that to reclaim the grass area is very important for that species. They feed in very large numbers on the grassland.

"We're reviewing data taken over five years and it looks like there's a very significant usage. There's a likelihood that it's internationally important for those species."

Mr Thornber said: "I will recommend we take all the steps possible to remove Dibden Bay as an area of potential development."

If Mr Thornber is backed by council - there was cross-party opposition to developing Dibden Bay throughout ABP's failed application bid - he will need to convince the South East England Regional Assembly (SEERA) to approve the plans.

He said: "I'm pretty confident we can convince SEERA because there aren't that many European areas of special protection."