A legacy project that supports the balance of wildlife and economic development on the South Humber Bank has been completed.
Novartis Ings builds on a gift of 35-acres of land from the departing Swiss pharmaceutical giant, with further support from industrial neighbour Solenis. It has been transformed to create a wetland habitat, supported by the ERDF and Greater Lincolnshire Local Enterprise Partnership.
Wading species are a particular target, with the temporary stopping off point on the estuary now providing a very rich invertebrate food source on the mudflats. It has been described as a ‘motorway service station for migrating birds’. Large numbers of golden plover, lapwing, black tailed godwit, curlew and others also stay all winter to benefit from the relatively mild climate combined with a reliable food source revealed twice a day by the tide. Eventually most migrate back to their northern breeding grounds in the spring, and more than 500 curlew have been counted in recent weeks.
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The haven eases future development as it acts as a forward-paying investment in offset requirements to build, with the speeding up of planning seen as a key enticement alongside the port, energy and decarbonisation strengths of the industrial cluster nestled beside a designated Site of Special Scientific Interest.
Novartis Ings has been formally unveiled by Mayor of North East Lincolnshire, Cllr Steve Beasant, who was joined by fellow councillors, representatives from Novartis, Solenis, funding partners and a range of interested groups who all helped to create the site.
Cllr Philip Jackson, leader of North East Lincolnshire Council, said: “This is a fantastic site. This element of our industrial investment strategy has already been praised for leading the way for future developments. Along with our other site, the nearby Cress Marsh, we’re protecting the natural environment, mitigating the impact of climate change and reducing barriers for new businesses investing in our area.”
It takes its name from the benefactor and Ings, a word of Norse origin referring to water meadows and marshes, including those that were part of the Humber flood plain.
Ian Johnson, managing director of Novartis Grimsby, said: “We are proud to leave this important environmental legacy to our local community. This will permanently mark the 72 years that Novartis Grimsby has been manufacturing in the local area when the site closes in 2023.”
The company made the shock announcement in September 2018, with the 1951-commissioned former Ciba Geigy operation receiving a couple of stays of execution that have delayed the 229-acre site closure, initially announced for December 2020. A deal has now been completed for the land and assets.
Halina Davies, partnerships and programmes executive manager at Greater Lincolnshire LEP, said: “We are very pleased to have supported this important mitigation site, not only will the scheme ensure protection of our natural environment, but importantly will enable further development and economic growth to progress the South Humber Industrial Investment Plan and support expansion of our major South Humber ports.”
Ploughing up bomb cost two lives on 'The Wadd' in WWII
A tragic tale was unearthed during the development of the former farmland.
Mary Neale, who now lives in Cornwall, told how her grandparents - John and Maria Johnson - were tenants of what was Woad Farm or ‘The Wadd’ with Sutton Estates - a major landowner in the area to this day.
John was killed alongside a 14-year-old farm boy, Sydney Russell, when they ploughed up an unexploded butterfly bomb that been dropped by German Luftwaffe in June 1943. It was an attack that had claimed more than 60 lives at the time, with this horrific incident occurring 11 months later. The horses also perished.
Maria, carried on at the farm until 1949, helped by her son Ron, who had served with the Home Guard, before moving from the farmhouse into nearby Great Coates village. Mary’s mother Nancy had moved to Edinburgh to work as a nurse. The farmhouse was flooded in the storm surge of 1953, and was eventually demolished, but Ron continued to farm the land and worked for Sutton Estates until his death.
Mary said: “My mother would be so pleased that this is now a safe and peaceful wildlife area.”
Specially commissioned art has also been added from the Novartis site. Giant hands by local wood artist Darren Capp that used to grace the Moody Lane entrance, a public art installation conveying caring and unveiled in 2008, have been moved across. So too have two of five granite benches that were set in a circle surrounding a central obelisk, described as representing togetherness, commissioned in 2005 to mark the opening of Novartis’ final production building. It was the work of Lincolnshire artist Dan Archer. One is engraved with the Pyewipe bird, symbolising the local area. The other shows C for Carbon from the chemical periodic table, “the basis of all process chemistry carried out at Novartis Grimsby and the element on which all life on earth is based” according to the team.
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