Havering’s local MPs, councillors and campaigners have joined together to support the call for a new law to address the crisis of contaminated land in the UK.
Called Zane’s Law, if in place, it would mean that local authorities and campaigners would have more powers to end the impact this has on residents who live near contaminated sites.
The call for Zane’s Law comes after the sad death of seven year old Zane Gbangbola, who died in the early hours of 8 February 2014, during catastrophic River Thames flooding at Chertsey in Surrey.
Floodwater passing through a nearby historic landfill site carried hydrogen cyanide gas (HCN) into Zane’s home, where it was later detected at high levels by Surrey Fire and Rescue Services.
Zane’s father, Kye, was also left paralysed, with a medical diagnosis of HCN poisoning.
Kye has been leading the campaign to bring in legislation so that local authorities and campaigners have more powers to deal with contaminated land if it is dangerous for local residents.
Zane’s Law proposes that the following measures be vigorously pursued in the UK, with no ambiguity in government guidance, to prioritise the protection and safety of people and planet above all other considerations.
- Every local authority must keep a full, regularly updated Register of Land that may be contaminated within their boundary.
- The Environment Agency must keep a full, public National Register of Contaminated Land to be regularly updated by information from local authorities.
- The Registers of Land must be accessible and available for inspection by the general public.
- Relevant local authorities must fully inspect any land registered that may be contaminated and must fully remediate or enforce remediation of any land which poses harm to public safety or which pollutes controlled waters.
- Relevant local authorities must be responsible for inspecting previously closed landfill sites and fully remediating them, or enforcing their remediation, when they pose a risk of significant harm to people or controlled waters.
- The Government must take full responsibility for providing the necessary funds for local authorities to meet these new requirements, following the ‘polluter pays’ principle: to recover costs as appropriate where those responsible for the pollution can be identified.
Kye recently met with Cllr Ray Morgon, the Leader of the Council, Margaret Mullane MP, a representative of Julia Lopez MP, local campaigner and Green Party member Ruth Kettle-Frisby, and the Chief Executive of Havering Council.
It was agreed in that meeting that all those attending endorsed the campaign and have agreed to write to the Prime Minister to push for it to be passed as legislation.
The Leader of Havering Council, Councillor Ray Morgon, said:
"As a Council, we have already endorsed Zanes’ Law, but I wanted Kye to meet with our MPs to brief them so that they could support too.
"I am pleased to say that all in the meeting agreed to do so and that this should be above politics and receive cross-party support.
"We know firsthand in the borough the impact contaminated land has on residents, with Launders Lane affecting so many people from the smoke, which is caused by illegally dumped waste several years ago.
"Current legislation does not make it easy for councils to take action and it has taken us a number of years and a judicial review before we were in a position to consider a solution.
"We have also had to find money for this, and as everyone knows, we are cash-strapped. Hopefully, if this legislation is agreed, it will make it easier to solve more quickly."
Margaret Mullane, MP for Dagenham and Rainham, said:
“I fully support Zane's Law and actions to protect communities from historic landfill pollution.
“The health of Rainham residents has suffered too long from the underground fires at the historic landfill at Launders Lane.
"I will continue fighting locally and in Parliament to protect residents from the harm caused by illegal dumping of rubbish.”
Ruth Kettle-Frisby, local campaigner and Green Party member, said:
"Contaminated land is causally connected to contaminated water and toxic air, and signals an inequitable environmental health crisis across the UK.
"Zane’s Law would ensure public protection via statutory transparency and accountability for contaminated land at no cost to the public purse.
"Together, we call on the government to protect the equal right of all children, including children living here in Rainham, to a clean and healthy environment in law."
Zane’s father, Kye Gbangbola, said:
"Public Authorities, Mayors, and Unions, across the country are unifying, along with the London Borough of Havering, to end the poisoning of communities, and bring Zane’s Law to statute, as seen at the Zane’s Law; Clean Land (Human Rights) Bill Parliamentary Summit, last June.
"Communities need clean, healthy, sustainable environments, protecting people now, and preventing the intergenerational harm of cancers, birth defects, and blighted homes etc.
"Zane’s Law supports economic growth by enabling remediated, clean land to contribute to delivering the infrastructure and housing the country needs.
"In addition, it develops knowledge and skill for our laboratory testing and remediation industries as delivered at the London 2012 Olympic Games, Stratford.”
Zane’s Grieving mother said:
"This is a real opportunity to fix our broken waste system, and push forward the ability of this country to keep its citizens, and its children safe.
"Every family and every child deserves a safe home."