PROTESTERS fighting plans for a huge container port at Dibden Bay are today celebrating a potential breakthrough in their campaign.

Moves to expand the docks at Rotterdam have been put on ice after a groundbreaking agreement between port authorities and environmental groups.

Containers will be moved through the port more quickly, eliminating the need for expansion.

The deal emerged at the weekend, when a Dutch delegation travelled to Hampshire to brief the anti-Dibden Bay campaigners.

Rotterdam city council officials are due to outline the new agreement at the forthcoming public inquiry into the £500m scheme to develop Dibden Bay.

Campaigners are hoping the Dutch agreement will prove a key factor when the government decides if the massive docks development should be approved.

Paul Vickers, chairman of Residents Against Dibden Bay Port, said: "We have been preparing our case over the past two-and-a-half years and established close contact with the big competing ports.

"We have kept in close touch with Rotterdam, which is Europe's biggest port and something of a trend-setter.

"Earlier this year Rotterdam reached a milestone agreement involving the city council, the port authority, environmental groups and local government.

"Rotterdam has got to the point where it has to stop consuming greenfield sites and reclaiming coastline.

"A fairly exhaustive study has concluded that the port could increase through-put in the existing working area by two or three times. If they can do that in Rotterdam, why can't they do it in Southampton?"

Mr Vickers said environmental groups were mounting an all-out campaign to torpedo the Dibden Bay scheme, which has sparked about 7,000 objections.

He said: "We've have been doing the rounds and it's clear that defeating Dibden Bay is the be-all and end-all. English Nature is putting more money into Dibden Bay than any other case in its history."

The proposed development has been put together by Associated British Ports (ABP), which insists the scheme is vital to the future of Southampton Docks.

It says the proposed port will create thousands of jobs, and claims it has measures to keep environmental problems to a minimum.