MORE THAN 2,000 full-time jobs will be created if a new container terminal is built at Dibden Bay, a public inquiry was told.

Employment expert Stephen Nicol also said the terminal could cost £750m - a 50 per cent increase on the original estimate of £500m.

Mr Nicol was giving evidence on behalf of Associated British Ports, which wants to build a huge dock development between Hythe and Marchwood.

He forecast that the scheme would provide a total of 2,090 jobs in the Southampton area.

Employment levels would rise by 11 per cent in Totton and the Waterside and four per cent across the New Forest district as a whole, he said.

Inquiry chairman Michael Hurley was told that Dibden Bay's contribution to the local employment market would begin as soon as work started on the terminal.

"This will be one of the largest construction projects in the south east of England for some time," said Mr Nicol.

"Spread over a nine- to ten-year development period, the construction employment created can almost be treated as permanent in nature." Mr Nicol is managing director of Regeneris Consulting, a firm that specialises in analysing the potential impact of major economic and regeneration schemes.

In 1994 he appeared as an expert witness at the public inquiry into controversial plans for a second runway at Manchester Airport.

Mr Nicol began his evidence to the Dibden Bay hearing by describing Southampton Docks as the "bedrock" of the local economy.

He highlighted the need for further growth, saying seven of the 20 wards in Southampton were among the most deprived areas in the south.

Mr Nicol claimed that the Dibden Bay scheme would replace many of the skilled and semi-skilled manual jobs that had disappeared in Hampshire.

He added: "The decision to give planning permission and the announcement of the investment would act as a major marketing tool for the existing port.

"Firms would expand their operations as traffic through the port increased as a result of the new terminal.

"The expansion at Dibden Bay would also ensure that at least two main container shipping alliances remained at the port, if not more."

Mr Nicol said the huge economic benefits of the scheme would outweigh any adverse impact on tourism in the neighbouring New Forest.