North Northamptonshire councillors have rejected a motion to support national legislation to enhance the monitoring of suspected contaminated land, including historical landfill.

LGC’s sister title MRW reports that at a full meeting of the Reform-controlled council in Corby last week a majority of members failed to back the proposed bill – also known as Zane’s Law – with members expressing concern over the unknown financial impact posed to local authority budgets.

Green councillor Ben Williams said in support of the motion that the “lived experience” of towns like Corby, where pollution from the former steelworks has been linked to birth defects, would send an important message.

“If North Northamptonshire of all places does not speak up for stronger contaminated land protections then who will,” asked Cllr Williams.

Corby’s toxic waste scandal saw North Northamptonshire Council’s predecessor, Corby BC, found liable for negligence in the High Court in 2009. The case more recently received new attention through the Netflix series, Toxic Town.

The proposed legislation is named after seven-year-old Zane Gbangbola, who died after exposure to hydrogen cyanide carried into his home by flood waters contaminated from a historic Surrey landfill in 2014.

Although the legislative proposals are yet to be introduced to Parliament, they would ensure updated public registers of potentially toxic landfills if passed into law.  The proposed legislation would also make the government responsible for remediation funding before money is recovered from polluters.

Cllr Williams’ motion asked North Northants to note that current UK regulation does not provide sufficient protection to the public or environment.

It called for the council to write to the government in support of the law’s principles, which include every council keeping a public register of sites that may be contaminated. The motion said the bill was likely to require councils to inspect and ensure remediation of these sites.

Despite the motion stating that the government must fully fund any new statutory duties that result from Zane’s Law, councillors rejected the motion by 29 votes to 24, with 4 abstentions.

Reform members expressed concern that the law committed the authority to open-ended financial commitments. Councillor Brian Benneyworth said the potential undertakings were “enormous”, noting that historical polluters were often impossible to find.

“We all know what happens when central government passes down responsibilities with good intentions but insufficient funding: the cost falls straight onto councils and, ultimately, onto our residents,” he said.

“Let’s not endorse legislation whose scale costs and implications are unclear and potentially not manageable.”

Councillor Kirk Harrison noted that the law’s inclusion of sites that may be contaminated, was too broad, arguing that the current evidence-based approach was sufficient.

“I am advised that listing land based purely on historic use without a defined statutory threshold is likely to cause unnecessary alarm, diminished market appeal and legal challenge. And all of that without necessarily improving public safety,” he said.

Other Green members asked whether councillors were comfortable telling future generations they threw the motion out “on a technicality”, while Cllr Williams suggested the wider point had been missed.

“This was a vote for the principles of the motion, not a vote for legislation”, he said. “In many cases, there should be no cost to the taxpayer as the polluter pays. Otherwise [the waste] continues to sit there for hundreds of years causing unknown damage.”

Authorities in Lewes, Havering, Brighton & Hove, Stroud, Runnymede and Cheshire West have passed motions backing the law, while the ‘Truth About Zane’ campaign group says the mayors of Liverpool and Greater Manchester have pledged their support.

Caerphilly County Borough Council’s environment committee has also rejected a motion to support the law, however. Members of the council were also reportedly concerned about the financial implications.

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