FORMER Cabinet minister John Redwood has joined the battle to save Dibden Bay.

Mr Redwood visited the proposed site of a £750m port and backed calls for new container facilities to be built elsewhere in the country.

The former shadow environment secretary said any extra capacity in the industry should be provided on brownfield sites with better road and rail links.

Mr Redwood, 51, spoke out during a whistle-stop tour of the New Forest.

Anti-Dibden Bay campaigners showed him the site between Hythe and Marchwood where Associated British Ports (ABP) wants to build a six-berth terminal.

Mr Redwood viewed the fields and hedges that are in danger of being replaced by quays and cranes.

One of the leading objectors told him: "Everything you can see before you will disappear if the proposed port is given the go-ahead."

The ABP scheme coincides with rival applications to build extra container terminal facilities at Harwich, Felixstowe and the Shell Haven site near London.

Mr Redwood said: "There are several schemes that have been put forward which make a lot more sense than Dibden Bay.

"Goods bound for the Midlands and the north would have a much shorter road or rail journey if they came in through Felixstowe."

Mr Redwood repeated a claim he made at the Conservative Party conference at Blackpool in 1999.

He said: "One of the tragedies of the past 20 years is that all the new development has been concentrated in areas that are already prosperous and don't really want it.

"Other areas such as the north and the west have been denuded of major schemes and the jobs that go with them.

"The proposed development of Dibden Bay represents a golden opportunity for the government. Let's have a decision that is better environmentally and better economically."

Mr Redwood, MP for Wokingham, Berkshire, entered Parliament in 1987 and was appointed Welsh Secretary in 1993.

An ABP spokesman said: "The Dibden site is a reclaimed area that was created by ABP's predecessor for the future expansion of the port.

"ABP is entirely confident that the environmental package proposed will deal with any issues that may arise."