Date of meeting: 28 March 2024

Proposer: Councillor Pickett

Seconder: Councillor Davis

Ward(s) affected: All

Notice of Motion

Green Group

This council notes:

1. The need to address the crisis of contaminated land in the UK, reinstating legislative provisions removed by government from the 1990 Environment Protection Act.

2. The Human Right to a Healthy Environment, approved by the UN General Assembly.

3. Findings in the British Medical Journal which estimated 80 per cent of people in the UK live within two kilometres of landfill.

4. The potential for hazardous waste contained on some landfill sites to cause significant harm to residents.

Therefore, resolves to:

1. Make clear the council’s support for Zane’s Law.

2. Request the leader of the council write to the Prime Minister, the Secretary of State for Health, and the Secretary of State for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and equivalents in the shadow cabinet to express the council’s support for new legislation based on the proposed principles of Zane’s Law.

3. Request the leader of the council write to the same individuals to request this and future governments commit to providing all necessary funding needed for local authorities to meet these requirements, following the 'polluter pays' principle: to recover costs as appropriate where those responsible for the pollution can be identified.

4. Request an officer report to the relevant decision making body to consider proposals to:-

(a) Compile a register of land within Brighton and Hove which may be contaminated which is easily available to residents, and

(b) Enforce remediation of any land which poses harm to public safety, or which pollutes controlled waters.