PROTESTERS are set to bombard the government with a 14,000-signature petition if it shows signs of giving the go-ahead to a huge new container terminal in Southampton Water.

They have also pledged to launch a human rights battle in Europe if ministers back the £750m container port.

If all else fails, the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds is likely to ask for the scheme to be thrown out under the European Birds Directive because of the number of species which wade and feed around the bay.

The public inquiry into Associated British Ports' (ABP) plans for a new dock at Dibden Bay ended on Thursday and there had been signs some time ago that objectors would mark the big finish by handing in a petition against it.

But the action group Residents Against Dibden Bay Port decided to put the hand-over on hold and the petition is being quietly locked away until decision time looms.

"We didn't want to hand it over at the end of the inquiry and enable the government to say they haven't got the inspector's report and brush it to one side," said RADBP chairman Paul Vickers.

The inspector, Michael Hurley, is set to put his report in about the end of October next year and Mr Vickers said that if there were indications that the terminal was in with a chance of being approved, the petition gun would be fired.

"We are well over 14,000 now. If in a year or two's time the decision were to go against us, we would get the petition out," he added.

Meanwhile, at least one other public inquiry affecting Dibden Bay - for a new terminal with industrial installations and rail links at London Gateway on the Thames Estuary - is set to get under way in February. Major expansion plans have also been announced at Felixstowe on the east coast for a 1.4 kilometre quay and a rebuild of a former quay.

"Those developments alone almost add up to the size of Dibden Bay," said Mr Vickers, who praised all the campaigners who have supported the RADBP campaign.

ABP's press office was unavailable for comment.