Dame Vivienne Westwood (left) with the parents of Zane Gbangbola, father Kye Gbangbola (front centre) and mother Nicole Lawler (right) protest in a march to the Environment Agency in Westminster, London, November 14, 2014
THE Liverpool and Greater Manchester mayors Steve Rotheram and Andy Burnham today backed a proposed new law to ensure greater transparency over contaminated land known as Zane’s Law.
Joining their London counterpart, the London Assembly and eight local authorities, they backed the measures that would require councils to keep public registers of contaminated sites on what would have been Zane Gbangbola’s 19th birthday.
Zane was just seven years old when he was killed by what his parents say was gas from a landfill when the River Thames flooded their home in Chertsey, Surrey, in 2014.
An inquest into his death concluded he was killed by carbon monoxide from a petrol pump used to clear floodwater from his home, but his parents say the pump was not used.
Kye Gbangbola, who was paralysed in the same incident that killed his son, and Zane’s mother Nicole Lawler have accessed public health documents that stated firefighters found hydrogen cyanide in their home, but no carbon monoxide.
They said: “When the state withholds the truth of a child’s death, there is more than ‘justice delayed is justice denied’ going on!
“Withheld justice eviscerates and silences victims beyond the horrific act that took their loved one’s life. Withheld justice removes the power to challenge, to speak freely, and to act on information. It halts lives, destroys relationships, careers, homes, health, wellbeing, trust, and any chance to grieve in truth.
“Zane will forever be our precious seven-year-old boy, who we miss every moment of the day. But we pray for a legacy of truth, and that protection for others will come.”
Zane’s Law would ensure that all potentially contaminated land is identified, made public, regularly inspected and properly cleaned up, with local authorities being given the funding, resources and powers to act.
Implementing it was adopted as Green Party policy in September and a motion supporting the proposed law was unanimously accepted by the London Assembly last November.
Green peer Natalie Bennett is committed to introducing Zane’s Law — the Clean Land (Human Rights) Bill — into the next parliament as a Private Members Bill, supported by the TUC, the CWU, Unite, NEU, Unison and the Fire Brigades Union.
The UK Landfills Campaign, which has grown out of the campaign for Zane’s Law, currently represents more than 30 different local campaigns.
