CIVIC chiefs will tonight look to sign off plans on a new Green City Charter which, they claim, will “safeguard the city for years to come”.

Revealed at the end of January – just moments after proposals for Southampton’s non-charging Clean Air Zone were unanimously approved, the charter aims to clean up pollution in the city.

With 11 “themes” the council wants to use the document to move Southampton towards a low carbon city, cleaner economy, and greener landscape. These themes include: Sustainable and Active Travel; Sustainable Energy; and Conserving Resources.

Civic chiefs say this will be used as a framework to implement policies that will reduce pollution and waste, minimise the impact of climate change, and stop health issues related to pollution.

They add that they want opposition members, residents, and businesses to help develop the plan.

Speaking in January, council leader Chris Hammond said: “The charter is about that long-term vision for the city.

“It’s important to think what future generations will ask us about why we failed to address the pollution issues in our city.

“The charter will be about us starting to safeguard our city for years to come.”

He added: “I hope central government and other councils will follow our lead. No other council has ever done this.

“This, I hope, shows how ambitious we as a council hope to be in tackling this problem.”

As reported, Cllr Hammond, along with other Labour frontbenchers, made clear that this charter was different to the Clean Air Zone plan.

This was because the CAZ is just focused on nitrogen dioxide (NO2), which the government lobbied the city to reduce to 40mg by 2020.

They added that it’s not something that has been forced upon them by Westminster, and instead something they have chosen to do in a bid to make the city’s air cleaner.

The document goes to the city council’s Cabinet committee tonight. It starts at 4pm in the Civic Centre.