Environmental concerns scupper £600m Dibden port plan

The Government's rejection of plans by Associated British Ports (ABP) to build a £600 million port has wiped 10% off the company's shares this morning.

ABP had said that the port development at Dibden in southern England was vital to operations. But today Transport Minister Tom McNulty said that the environmental concerns had taken precedence over the commercial development of the site. In a statement Mr McNulty said: "After carefully considering all the arguments and impacts I have concluded that, overall, the scheme should not go ahead".

Earlier this year ABP, one of the UK's largest port operators, Associated British Ports warned greater container port capacity would be required within two years to stem competition from large European ports.

ABP Port Director for Southampton, Andrew Kent, said that the Secretary of State’s decision not to grant permission to expand the Port of Southampton at Dibden was “extremely serious”.

“The decision not to give ABP’s Port of Southampton the go-ahead for its expansion plans to handle growth in the UK’s international trade will certainly result in a loss of job opportunities in the area and will have a worryingly adverse effect on the local and regional economies,” he said.

“The future shape of the port will now be significantly different to that of the expanded Port of Southampton which we had planned for. However, going forward, we will continue to focus on growing the port’s business in areas where there is potential to strengthen our trade base.”

Though environmental groups had opposed the proposed port expansion plan, the House of Commons’ Transport Select Committee, said in February that it would be "unacceptable" to hold up key decisions subject to the formulation of a national ports plan.

ABP had sought for the proposals for port expansion to be treated in as far as possible in the same way as other commercial and industrial developments.

The proposed £600 million port facility planned for Southampton, the subject of an inquiry, was opposed by environmental pressure groups who claimed that existing port facilities should be upgraded rather than creating additional terminals that encroached on surrounding coastal wildlife areas.

Responding, ABP today announced a £100 million share buy-back and a write-off of £45 million spent on the Dibden Terminal proposals.

(SP)