SOUTHAMPTON City Council has thrown its weight behind plans for a new dock which it hopes will take the port to new frontiers and levels of prosperity.

The council lost no time in telling a tense audience of around 350 people at the Applemore Recreation Centre, near Hythe, that the city needs the new container terminal which Associated British Ports (ABP) wants to build at Dibden Bay.

Yesterday, on the first day of the public inquiry into the £500m proposal, John Hobson, QC, putting the case for the council, accepted that there were problems relating to environmental considerations.

In pointing out that they could generally be overcome, he said: "The council is satisfied that there is a demonstrable and overwhelming need, and that this need outweighs the impacts of the scheme, taking into account the measures that are proposed to offset those impacts."

Mr Hobson referred to the way the city had adapted to changing circumstances through its 700-year history and had become second only to Felixstowe as a UK container port in terms of its volume.

Referring to a possible 2,000 jobs being created at Dibden, he said: "The failure to permit the expansion of the port would not only mean that these significant additional employment figures would be foregone; it would have very serious consequences for the city of Southampton and the wider region.

"If the Port of Southampton is not permitted to expand, it will decline and the order of its decline will be great indeed, with a predicted range of between 20 per cent to 50 per cent."

On the question of the damage to nature conservation, he pointed to ABP's mitigation measures, which include an inter-tidal feeding habit for birds between Hythe and Fawley where the dredgings from the port development would be used to raise the land level, an inter-tidal creek between the bay and Hythe Marina and the creation of additional wetland habitats.

On the question of traffic, Mr Hobson said it was the view of Southampton's consultants that the development "should have no impact within the city council's area".

"Outside that area, the main impact is likely to be on Junction 3 of the M27, where improvement works might be necessary," he said. ABP is planning to make major use of the Fawley branch line, with 35 per cent of the Dibden Bay goods taken out by rail and 65 per cent by road.

Mr Hobson said: "The city council's consultants, Oscar Faber, has advised that, with some improvement, there is sufficient capacity on the Fawley branch line to accommodate the additional freight traffic that would be involved."

ABP counsel Martin Kingston highlighted the national importance of the proposed development.

Asked about Southampton's own economy, he said the city had suffered socially and economically through the decline of manufacturing industries.

If the expansion was not approved it would send the city into a period of stagnation and decline which would exacerbate those problems.

In fending off suggestions that there was ample capacity elsewhere in the country, he said full capacity was likely to be taken up by 2005 and that there was no room for expansion on the Southampton side of Southampton Water.

He also referred to shortcomings at other ports which were to be built or extended, with dredging needed in some areas and full assessments not yet completed.

On the question of the recent designation of Dibden Bay as a site of specific scientific interest, he said ABP would be making "appropriate representations" and would, he said, be able to demonstrate that the proposals would have no adverse effect".