ONE of the south's top conservation groups has hit out at plans to build a £750m container terminal at Dibden Bay.

The Solent Protection Society (SPS) has become the latest organisation to attack the scheme at the public inquiry being held in Southampton's Eastern Docks.

Inquiry chairman Michael Hurley heard evidence from Professor Gerald Smart, a member of the society's executive council.

Prof Smart, who was Hampshire's county planning officer between 1963 and 1975, criticised the proposals put forward by Associated British Ports (ABP).

He said: "The ecological value of the Southampton Water area combines with its landscape quality, sheltered waters and association with the New Forest to create an area that is almost unique in south England. The SPS has very serious misgivings about the damage the proposed container terminal would do to Dibden Bay and its wider setting."

Prof Smart acknowledged that adequate container terminal facilities would be in the national interest.

However, he said the government should reject the Dibden Bay scheme and dismiss the Harbour Revision Order sought by ABP.

He said: "The impact of the proposals on wildlife resources, taken together with other impacts and the possibility of alternative provision, should be instrumental in persuading the Secretary of State to decline the order."

The inquiry also heard from wildlife expert Dr Peter Kirby, who criticised the Dibden Bay scheme and its potential impact on invertebrates.

He said: "Dibden Bay supports an invertebrate assemblage of national importance, a large proportion of which would be eradicated by the proposed port. Mitigation measures proposed by ABP are inadequate.

"The existing assemblages will be destroyed before any alternative habitat is available, and the habitat to be created will be different in character to that which is lost. The new habitat may be unable to support an equivalent assemblage."