THERE are hopes a deal could be struck to sell off Southampton’s former Ford Transit plant site by the end of next month.

Bids are now being welcomed from firms wanting to return manufacturing and hundreds of jobs to the site in Swaythling.

And there are hopes an agreement could be reached as early as the end of July, with civic chiefs keen to return employment there two years after the plant closed.

Over the decades thousands of Hampshire residents worked at the site, with 4,000 employed there at its peak, while more than 2.2million Transit vans rolled off the production lines.

But Ford shut the plant in July 2013 after moving most of its operations to Turkey, bringing to an end almost 100 years of production on the site.

While 356 workers took voluntary redundancy, some did find work in Ford’s new vehicle refurbishment centre on the site, while a new distribution centre is also set to open in the docks.

Work to demolish most of the remaining buildings is set to take place by the end of the year, with planning applications in for work to remove the large buildings seen by thousands of motorists on the M27 every day.

And after the familiar plant buildings are gone there are hopes they will soon be replaced by new factories or plants.

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Last month the Daily Echo revealed that the site was to be marketed by Ford, which jointly owns it with Balmoral, in a bid to find a new occupant.

Commercial agents Cushman and Wakefield are selling the site on behalf of the automotive giant, and bids are now being welcomed.

Civic chiefs have said they would not want large-scale housing or retail to be built on the site.

City council leader Simon Letts said: “There are hopes it could be done as quickly as July.

“We’ve made it very clear that this is an employment site, if not entirely for employment purposes then certainly largely for it.

“We are flexible in terms of what industry, but we have a preference of high-end manufacturing.”

A spokesman for Ford said: “It has always been expected that the site will continue to be a base for business use, providing a source for employment.

“Ford has worked with local authorities and other key stakeholders to agree how the marketing and re-use of the site will proceed.”

Cushman and Wakefield were unavailable for comment.