Foulness Island passing of the Ministry of Defence Act 1946 and the subsequent rationalisation of five agencies in 1971, ownership of the island passed from the War Office to the Ministry of Defence. In 2003, a contract to manage the testing of munitions was awarded to the defence contractors QinetiQ, and they also control access to the island. In the 1850s, the South Essex Estuary and Reclamation Company proposed a grand scheme to reclaim around of land on the Essex coast, which would have included most of Foulness Sands and Maplin Sands. The civil engineer Sir John Rennie produced the plans, and
English Island (South Australia) English Island (South Australia) English Island is an island off the coast of South Australia. It is a part of the Sir Joseph Banks Group and close to Sibsey Island. The island is most notable for its large colony of sea lions, and for a secession movement started by the eccentic and self-styled "Sir Ralph Styles of English Island" in 1954. The island first obtained protected area status as a fauna conservation reserve declared under the "Crown Lands Act 1929-1966" on 16 March 1967 . The island is part of the Sir Joseph Banks Group Important Bird Area, identified as