The remote UK island dubbed ‘the doughnut’ that cost £30million then left to rot
The bizarrely shaped island was originally built to create a tidal barrage across half of the Wash to capture the freshwater from the Rivers Witham, Welland, Nene and the Great Ouse and form a reservoir.
A remote UK island dubbed ‘the doughnut’ that cost £30million has been left to rot, it has been reported.
The island is located near Lincolnshire coast where hundreds of wind turbines can be seen turning natural power into electricity for people living nearby.
Around fifty years ago the Government tried to harness nature in a different way, spending the equivalent of £30million building two islands, Lincolnshire Live reported.
The idea was to build a tidal barrage across half of the Wash to capture the freshwater from the Rivers Witham, Welland, Nene and the Great Ouse and create a reservoir.
At the end, "the doughnut" - also known as the outer trial bank - was born in 1974.
If successful, the plan would have turned large parts of The Wash into a freshwater reservoir, but being located on a tidal estuary created an obvious problem.
The project was approved in 1974 but it didn't take long for it to be shelved.
Today the oddly shaped island is home to thousands of nesting sea birds.
Daisy Durden of Natural England said: “The Outer and Inner Trial Banks are a pair of man-made islands, created in the 1970s from sand dredged from the saltmarsh and protected by limestone rock.
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"The scheme was originally intended to see if a barrage would be feasible. Instead, bunded reservoirs were created which is why the islands were doughnut-shaped as they were used as freshwater reservoirs.
“However, surrounding tidal forces and using saline saltmarsh construction material meant the water became too salty. Deemed ineffective and too costly, the project was abandoned.
"The Inner Trial Bank is barely recognisable as an island now as the saltmarsh has formed around it.
“The Trial Banks are within the Wash Natural Nature Reserve, The Wash and North Norfolk Coast SAC and The Wash SSSI, with the Outer Trial Bank providing an important home for wildlife, especially nesting seabirds.
"Surveys confirm the Trial Banks support Lesser Black-Backed Gulls and Herring Gulls, as well as historically supporting Terns.”
