CAMPAIGNERS fighting the planned container port at Dibden Bay are to make a countrywide plea for support via BBC radio.

The resonant voice of actor Brian Blessed will boom across the nation three times next week, speaking as chairman of the Council for National Parks (CNP).

As the charity's figurehead, Mr Blessed has sent 8,000 letters across the New Forest asking for help in the "David and Goliath struggle" to stop the development - with Associated British Ports, not the burly actor, in the role of the giant Philistine.

The CNP spokesman will focus on the plight of Dibden Bay during Radio 4's two charity appeal slots on Easter Sunday and again on April 4.

Mr Blessed said: "The New Forest is well on its way to becoming a National Park. It would be terrible for our first national park for 20 years to start off with this threat on its doorstep.

"With its huge cranes and stacks of containers, the planned container port would destroy the stretch of land leading down to the water's edge. An unspoiled estuary on the fringe of the New Forest would be lost for ever."

Mr Blessed says CNP's battle against ABP - including the hire of a barrister to present their case at the ongoing public inquiry - will cost at least £7,000, and he has asked for public help.

The actor's stand against the container port scheme has helped restore his local reputation. In September Mr Blessed left the city's Guildhall in a hurry, throwing a Volvo Ocean Race event into confusion. He told organisers his embarrassing exit was due to flu.

But this time the feisty celebrity has won approval - at least to the west of Southampton Water.

Phil Henderson, for Residents Against Dibden Bay Port, said: "We welcome Mr Blessed's involvement. What happens to Dibden Bay is not just of concern to the local area. It is a national issue. We are delighted that Mr Blessed is adding his voice to ours."

Marchwood district councillor Nick Smith said: "We value this opportunity to get the Dibden Bay issue discussed at national level.

"We are concerned that as soon as the public inquiry is over the development will go through, because we fear the minister has already made up his mind in its favour.

"Marchwood is at present between a potential national park and a stretch of environmentally-important and beautiful coast. It could end up being right beside a huge container port. What a turn-around for a village!"

New Forest East MP Julian Lewis, who lives in West Totton, said: "I am very pleased that the CNP recognises the outstanding value of Dibden Bay and the importance to the community - and the country - of preventing this unnecessarily damaging development."

A spokeswoman for ABP said there was "no justification" for including reclaimed land at Dibden Bay in a New Forest National Park.

She added that ABP proposed to separate the operational area from the Heritage Area and to devote a large buffer zone to nature conservation, if the development went ahead.

Brian Blessed's appeal to save Dibden Bay will be broadcast on BBC Radio 4 (FM 92.4-94.6) on Sunday, March 31 at 7.55am, and 9.25pm, and on Thursday, April 4 at 3.28pm.