The UK’s incredible £30mn man-made island that has now been left abandoned

A bizarre man-made island off the Lincolnshire coast is thought to have cost millions to build, but is now abandoned.

The artificial islet was one of two built in the 1970s as part of a feasibility study into water storage, previously reported.

The research the government conducted was to see whether large parts of the Wash, a square-mouthed bight on Britain’s east coast, could be transformed into a freshwater reservoir, reported back in 2008.

The larger Outer Trial Bank measured just 250 metres diameter, with a circular reservoir measuring 1 hectare in the middle.

However, the location of these test lakes meant success was unlikely.

Because they were built on a tidal estuary their fresh water was becoming soon becoming salty, the study published in 1976 found.

It also noted the massive and unfeasible cost £3million cost of the trial alone (which converts to almost £30million in today’s money).

Soon after the plans were abandoned, as were the curious pair of trial banks.

Tammy Smalley, then a Wash Estuary Project Officer told back in 2008: “Some of the materials they used to build the banks were dredged from the wash so were saline in nature anyway.

So you’re not going to get fresh water in a salty environment – and that was the reason it was abandoned. But how many estuaries can you go to in the UK and see a 1970s experiment still there in the landscape, that has become important for wildlife in its own right?”

The smaller Inner Trial Bank was constructed first, in Norfolk, though its now harder to spot as saltmarsh has formed around it.

The Outer Trial Bankremains clearly visible to this day and is more than just a curious reminder of the ditched project.

The site is now effectively a sanctuary for nesting seabirds, and lies within The Wash’s nature reserve area, as per Lincolnshire Live.