COUNCILLORS will today discuss plans for how a clean air zone may look for Southampton.

New Forest District Council will hold its special Environment Overview and Scrutiny Committee meeting to debate the proposals which fall in its remit.

This include pollution levels around the A35, A326 and A36 roads near Totton.

The plan, which is the first time it is being revealed to the public, includes how the authority will look to lower the level of nitrogen dioxide levels in the area to the compliance level of below 40 micrograms per cubic air metre.

The meeting, held at Appletree Court in Lyndhurst, will start at 4pm.

As reported, the district authority has been working with Southampton City Council after the city was identified as one of five across the country that was polluting more than it should.

The government has lobbied the two councils to achieve the compliance level “in the shortest possible time”.

One suggestion that has been tabled is a commercially charging clean air zone in the city boundaries. If the chargeable zone is implemented, lorries, buses and coaches could all be billed up to £100 a day to enter the city.

Following today’s meeting, the authority will hold a cabinet meeting next Tuesday, December 18, to make a formal decision, before sending off plans to Westminster on December 31.

The city council will then follow a similar format, with plans discussed by city councillors at its Overview and Scrutiny Panel on January 16, followed by a Cabinet meeting on January 22 – held in the Guildhall.

It will send its plans for approval on January 31.

As recently reported by the Local Democracy Reporting Service, more than 4,300 residents backed plans for a chargeable zone, with almost 5,000 arguing that this would have a negative impact on the port or the city.

It came after the authorities released the responses to their 12-week consultation, which 9,309 residents took part in.