Green Party conference in Manchester has voted for a new law to protect people from contaminated land. It has been coined ‘Zane’s Law’ after 7-year-old Zane Gbangbola who died when Hydrogen Cyanide was carried by floodwater from a contaminated landfill site into his home in 2014. The legislation would force all Local Authorities to keep a regularly updated Register of Land that may be contaminated and the Environment Agency to hold a National Register of Contaminated Land.
Responding, Green peer Natalie Bennett, who proposed the successful motion, said:
“Current UK regulations on contaminated land pose a threat to human life and welfare. They are dangerously inadequate, especially given climate breakdown, rising sea levels, increased rainfall, and flooding. Zane’s Law proposes measures to address this crisis.
“It seeks to address this contamination crisis by aligning the UK with global best practice for the protection of communities from hazardous land. It would reinstate legislative provisions removed by the Conservative government from the 1990 Environment Protection Act and ensure the UK adheres to the Universal Right to a Healthy Environment, endorsed by the UN in July 2022.
“The protection of citizens must be a primary responsibility of government. As Greens we therefore urge Labour to add this important and long overdue law to their legislative programme and provide the necessary funds for Local Authorities to meet the new requirements.”