A readily available register of contaminated land should be compiled by the council, according to a Green councillor.
Kerry Pickett plans to call on Brighton and Hove City Council to set up such a register at a meeting on Thursday (28 March).
She is due to propose a motion that supports what has become known as Zane’s law named after seven-year-old Zane Gbangbola.
He died in his sleep 10 years ago after his home was flooded by water from the Thames which had passed through a contaminated landfill site.
Zane’s father Kye Gbangbola was left paralysed after the flooding at the family home in Chertsey, Surrey, in February 2014, while the boy’s mother Nicole Lawler was also treated in hospital.
The Fire Brigades Union, the Public and Commercial Services Union and Zane’s doctors believed that the family was poisoned by hydrogen cyanide gas from the site.
Councillor Pickett said: “Having had this campaign brought to my attention, I am shocked that, in 10 years, nothing has been done.
“This issue shouldn’t be political. Zane’s law aims to close loopholes in the Environmental Protection Act 2010 on registration of landfills.
“It is for the benefit of all people who might live near these historic landfills to be able to access such information and that any non-disclosure of information concerning risks to public safety should be criminalised.
“With rising sea levels, this issue will impact even more people than before.
“Unregulated, unlogged landfill is now an emergency and we need the authorities to act with appropriate resources and transparency.
“Proposals under Zane’s law are requesting that all authorities keep a local register of potentially contaminated land and for a full and easily accessible public national register to be properly compiled by the Environment Agency.
“Furthermore, it will be the duty of councils or local authorities to remediate land that poses harm to public safety or pollutes controlled waters and with the government responsible for providing new funding to achieve this.”
Councillor Picket is due to propose a motion on the issue at a meeting of the full council which is scheduled to start at 4.30pm on Thursday (28 March) at Hove Town Hall. The meeting is expected to be webcast on the council’s website.
This is such an important campaign. I wish Cllr Pickett every success in moving this motion to support Zane’s Law and address the need for URGENT ACTION on contaminated land across the UK. Our current regulations are totally unfit for purpose, having been watered down significantly since the 1990 Environment Act. Seven year old Zane Gbangbola died because he lived next to unregulated, contaminated land, and his father has been left paralysed due to Hydrogen Cyanide poisoning from the same incident. Such a terrible tragedy, now 10 years ago… IT’S TIME FOR ACTION!
She needs to create a parliament petition
Easily done online, to be fair, Val. You should do one if you feel strongly about this as well.
What landfill sites don’t we know about?