Motion #01

Zane's Law

Synopsis

UK regulations on contaminated land are dangerously inadequate, especially given climate breakdown, rising sea levels, increased rainfall, and flooding. Zane’s Law proposes measures to address this crisis. 7-year-old Zane Gbangbola tragically died when Hydrogen Cyanide was conducted by floodwater from a contaminated landfill site into his home, in February 2014.

Motion

Conference notes that current UK regulations with regard to toxic waste disposal and the danger to human life, to our environment, and to the planet as a whole, from both historic landfill sites and currently approved landfill sites operating the ‘dry tomb’ principle, are dangerously inadequate. Especially so, in the face of climate breakdown, with rising sea levels, increased rainfall, and widespread flooding.

In 2014, 7-year-old Zane Gbangbola died, and his father was paralysed with a diagnosis of hydrogen cyanide (HCN) poisoning, during catastrophic flooding in the UK. It is understood that flood water passing through a historic landfill site carried HCN into Zane’s home, detected there at high levels by the Fire and Rescue Services on the night of the tragedy. What happened that night is expected to be the subject of an Independent Panel Inquiry.

‘Zane’s Law’ seeks to address the crisis of contaminated land, aligning the UK with global best practice for the protection of communities from hazardous land, reflecting the current concerns of the climate crisis, and reinstating legislative provisions removed by the government from the 1990 Environment Protection Act. The protection of citizens should be a primary government responsibility, as enshrined in the Universal Right to a Healthy Environment, endorsed by the UN General Assembly in July 2022.

Conference, therefore, fully supports the Truth About Zane Campaign’s call for ‘Zane’s Law’ which proposes that the following measures be adopted into legislation by Government, to prioritise the protection and safety of people and planet.

SOC Note: Text struck through has been found Out of Order for being vague.

The Legislation if passed would likely include:

1.    Each relevant Local Authority must keep a full, regularly updated Register of Land that may be contaminated within their boundary.

2.    The Environment Agency must keep a full, public ‘National Register of Contaminated Land’ to be regularly updated by information from Local Authorities.

3.    All above mentioned Registers of Land must be accessible and available for inspection by the General Public.

4.    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*

5.    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.

6.    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.

These measures are not all in place currently and would require significant investment and full funding from the Government to be implemented. Other statutory requirements (such as data protection provisions) would need be taken account of.

* Controlled waters are groundwater or surface water intended for human consumption