CONTROVERSIAL plans to use Southampton docks to berth a nuclear submarine are on the agenda at the first meeting of Southampton City Council's new Liberal Democrat cabinet on Monday.

But the City Council's new leader, Councillor Adrian Vinson, told the Daily Echo that a further two weeks of public consultation will take place over the controversial proposals before they are dealt with by city chiefs.

It means that the plan will not be finally discussed by city bosses until the Cabinet's meeting on June 16 - just two weeks before the deadline set for city councillors to approve the scheme.

Cllr Vinson said the Z berth controversy would be one of the items that the Liberal Democrats would be inviting public comment on as part of the party's new agenda of openness.

He said: "The report is not coming up for decision - it is coming up for consultation. Z berth has been the subject of tremendous public comment. A decision will be taken at the next meeting of Cabinet and I welcome comments from members of the public."

He denied that the Cabinet would have to "rubber-stamp" the report when it came back before city chiefs on June 16.

He said: "We certainly don't rubber-stamp anything. Anything we approve we will approve after careful consideration. We want to give the public the opportunity to comment before we reach a decision. It would be wrong of me to suggest that the Cabinet have already reached a decision. I do not wish to say any more at this point. We will listen and then we will reach a decision on the 16th."

City chiefs are supposed to agree to the controversial safety scheme - dubbed "SotonSafe" - by July this year. If they fail to do so, they could face legal action from the Health and Safety Executive costing at least £100,000 in London's High Court. The Navy is planning to use the city's Z berth at dock 38 to house a nuclear vessel for "recreational" use. The original scheme was put on hold last year when councillors had so little confidence in the Royal Navy's original safety plans they told the service to stay away until new procedures were drawn up.

The emergency plan is supposed to swing into action in the event of a nuclear incident and includes distributing potassium iodate tablets to vulnerable people in the event of a nuclear leak.

The latest safety scheme has been drawn up with the help of Associated British Ports, emergency services in the city