Havering Council Set To Back Zane’s Law After Declaring Landfill Contaminated.

Havering Council will back calls to address a contaminated land “crisis” in the UK – as it continues its own battle in Launders Lane writes Sebastian Mann, local democracy reporter.

The town hall will formally support the national Zane’s Law campaign, which is aimed at setting up public registers of contaminated sites across the country.

It was named for seven-year-old Zane Gbangbola, whose parents say was killed by gas from an old landfill in 2014.

Havering councillors are expected to back the campaign at a cabinet meeting next week, the first since the town hall finally declared a landfill in Launders Lane legally ‘contaminated’.

A perennially burning rubbish dump in Arnolds Field has been the centre of a heated local campaign, with residents blaming stinging eyes and coughing fits on the acrid smoke blowing into their homes.

Soil analysis showed the land contained asbestos, while the field had been historically used as a weapons stash and for cannabis.

The council did not originally declare the land contaminated, but a successful push for a judicial review saw the High Court rule it was mistaken.

It found council officers had relied on incomplete data and misunderstood legal definitions around contamination by “wrongly believing” toxic smoke did not qualify.

Speaking ahead of the cabinet meeting, council leader Ray Morgon said: “We know how residents feel about the issue of contaminated land and the distress and damage it can cause to both physical and mental health.

“We also know how difficult it is to solve issues like this as legislation does not support the costs associated with making historic landfill sites safe for all those who live nearby.”

He said backing the Zane’s Law campaign was an “an easy decision as it is about protecting our local communities”.

“If agreed it will also mean it will cover the costs of dealing with contaminated land which is clearly a major issue for councils who are struggling from years of underfunding,” he added.

“We will therefore be lobbying the government and our local MPs to see this through parliament.”

Zane’s Law has been widely supported in London since it was first proposed in 2021.

The London Assembly unanimously supported it in November 2024, through a motion put forward by Green Party assembly member – and now leader – Zack Polanski.

There are sites in London that are of concern, the motion said, such as former gas works being redeveloped for residential use and former landfills near green space.

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