Stroud District Council is to ask the government for more funding and resources to protect local people from the health risks of contaminated land.
The decision is the result of a motion by Green councillor Beki Aldam (Brimscombe & Thrupp), which was unanimously passed at the full council meeting on Thursday night (April 25).
She says the council needs more money to fund the principles of the proposed new Zane’s Law, which seeks to reinstate central government funding – removed by the Conservatives – for environmental protections.
Zane’s Law is named after Zane Gbangbola, who died aged seven in 2014 in Surrey, allegedly from toxic gas released from a nearby landfill site during heavy flooding.
Zane’s father, Kye Gbangbola, attended the meeting. Thanking him, Cllr Aldam said: “No family should have to go through what Zane’s family have been through, and these measures, we hope, will be part of Zane’s legacy to ensure that the tragedies of the future never happen. As Zane once said, people think sustainability means looking after your garden, but it’s really about a bigger garden that belongs to everyone.”
Clr Aldam said she was “shocked” to learn that there are 1,700 potentially contaminated sites in Stroud District, some the result of the area’s long history of industrial activity, including the wool and textile industry and the manufacture of dyes.
One is in her own ward: a site in Brimscombe where waste of various kinds has been dumped, damaging the flora and fauna and contaminating a stream that flows into the River Frome.
“It’s unbearable to think of the effect it is having on this once beautiful valley within an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, and I’ve been continually astonished that no-one has been able to deal with it decisively,” she said.
In her speech to council, Cllr Aldam said councils have a legal duty to manage and monitor contaminated land, to prevent new contamination being caused, and to require clean-up by the responsible polluter. But there is not enough funding for them to do it effectively.
“We need the national government to step up and fund, resource and vocally support this vital work,” she said. “These sites have to be investigated and potential mitigation work has to be carried out to make them safe.”
She calculated that the budget currently available for contaminated site investigations works out at just £1.30 per site for this year. There is also a massive skills gap thanks to a historic lack of funding, which means there is only one specialist Contaminated Land Officer in the whole of Gloucestershire. That officer is based at Stroud District Council, so residents here benefit from more expertise than do residents elsewhere in the county.
Cllr Aldam said the current UK regulations over toxic waste disposal are “dangerously inadequate”, meaning increased risk to human health and the environment. “This is especially so in the face of climate breakdown, with rising sea levels, increased rainfall, and widespread flooding.”
Stroud District suffers from increasing flooding and unauthorised waste disposal. “The combination of these could put the health of our residents at risk and another tragedy must be averted,” said Cllr Aldam.
Cllr Aldam’s motion also asks the government to support Green Baroness Natalie Bennett in her efforts to advance Zane’s Law through the House of Lords.
Three other councils – Lewes, Brighton and Hove, and Adur – have already backed Zane’s Law.
A petition in support of Zane’s Law, calling for toxic landfills to be made safe, can be signed at: https://you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/make-toxic-landfills-safe-support-zane-s-law
Pictured: Cllr Beki Aldam with Kye Gbangbola and the Green group of councillors at Ebley Mill after Thursday’s meeting. On the right is Cllr Trevor Hall from the Community Independents group, one of the councillors from other parties who voted for the motion.
Stroud District Council’s information about contaminated land
Strategy for the Identification of Contaminated Land