The failure to clean up contaminated land sites – or even make their locations public – has had fatal consequences. It’s time for a new law, writes Kye Gbangbola FCIOB
Health issues arising from mould and damp led to the tragic death of baby Awaab Ishak in 2020, and the shockwaves led to Awaab’s Law, which aims to ensure safer, healthier homes for social housing tenants.
Contaminated land has also had a fatal impact on people’s lives, leading to many health issues around the country and the tragic death of a child on 8 February 2014. As a result, new legislation – Zane’s Law – is proposed to fix another broken system.
The story of Zane Gbangbola begins when his family moved into their Victorian home in Surrey – but were not informed it was next to a landfill site. During the devastating floods of 2014, floodwater ran through the landfill, and the house was infused with invisible, odourless, hydrogen cyanide (HCN) gas. Zane died as a consequence.
The HCN was detected multiple times by HAZMAT firefighters and a major incident was declared, necessitating the evacuation of the area. So serious was the incident that experts from the government defence research laboratory at Porton Down were also involved in the response.
The local hospital was overwhelmed with unwell people and more than 50 emergency workers had to be decontaminated. Zane’s father went into cardiac arrest and was left paralysed by the HCN poisoning.
There is massive and growing public concern about contaminated land, lack of enforcement, accountability, impacts on people’s daily lives, health and confidence in public bodies. This is where Zane’s Law comes in.
What is Zane’s Law?
The proposed Clean Land (Human Rights) Act seeks to protect workers and communities from the harm and death caused by toxic contaminated land and related waters. Key proposals include:
- Every local authority must keep a full, regularly updated Register of Land that may be contaminated within its boundary, made available to the public.
- The Environment Agency must keep a National Register of Contaminated Land.
- Relevant local authorities must inspect any land registered that may be contaminated and fully remediate or enforce remediation of any land which poses harm to public safety, or which pollutes controlled waters.
- Increased government funding to provide councils with the necessary resources and support to carry out these responsibilities.
- The government will recover costs as appropriate where those responsible for the pollution can be identified, following the international polluter pays principle.
Zane’s Law has cross-party Parliamentary support, is endorsed by the mayors of London, Liverpool and Greater Manchester, local authorities across the country and every major trade union in the UK. It has the support of powerful international built environment institutions, including the Chartered Institute of Building and the Chartered Institute of Housing.
But despite this backing and momentum, there is no date yet for Zane’s Law to become a formal bill that will be heard in Parliament.
Suffering in plain sight
Zane’s death is one of several contaminated land incidents that have recently come into the public consciousness. The Netflix drama, Toxic Town, highlighted the families suffering from birth defects and cancers in Corby. The ‘Rainham Volcano’, a landfill site in east London which has frequently caught fire, has caused serious health issues among local people. Communities and households up and down the country are suffering in plain sight.
According to the British Medical Journal, 80% of people in this country live within 2km of landfill. Contaminated land is an issue that impacts the vast majority of the UK population.
Zane’s Law will make communities safer, in the same way that Awaab’s Law is making social housing tenants safer.
Kye Gbangbola FCIOB has campaigned for effective legislation to tackle contaminated land and its impact since the death of his son Zane in 2014. For further information, go to zaneslaw.co.uk.
