The TRANSFORMATION of a north Shropshire car breaker's yard into a wildlife haven has moved a step closer with the clearance of tyres from the site.

Shropshire Wildlife Trust's project to restore peat bogs at Whixall Moss, which is expected to cost around £500,000, saw the clearance of thousands of tyres from the three-acre site at Furber's.

John Hughes, who is overseeing the project, says the tyre clearance was a priority in what is a crucial project for Shropshire Wildlife Trust and their hopes to restore Whixall Moss to how it once was.

"This is a project about Whixall Moss – it's an internationally important area of wildlife, so this is about trying to make the best of it," said John.

"The project is about sorting the bits around the edge of the moss, such as removing the conifer trees and turning that back into peat. We want to have the peat there as it breaks up carbon dioxide better than soil.

"My role has been to put together the project to get the tyres cleared, which is almost done. The tyre removal contractors have pretty much finished clearing the tyres from the moss.

We wanted to get them off and now what's left there is just the general waste from the car breaker's yard. The tyres actually came up on a national register as begin a huge fire risk, so we needed to get that done and they're not any more.

"The mixed waste is just what you'd find in a breaker's yard. The next thing to do is clear the rest of that waste and that's something we'll put out to let. These things take time; I expect it to be done by next summer.

"People have also asked us about the potential pollution at the breaker's yard but all the advice we've received is that we shouldn't dig into the ground."

The tyre clearance is the start of a project to restore several areas of Fenns, Whixall, Bettisfield and Wem Mosses, which has received a funding boost from the EU LIFE fund and Heritage Lottery Fund.

With the scrapyard sitting on deep peat, it has been part-designated as a special area of conservation.

The trust is still raising £500,000 to complete the project which also aims to restore swamp, fen, willow and alder carr wet woodland, habitats missing from the edge of the bog to provide homes for willow and marsh tit and rare bog wildlife

For more about the project and the trust itself, head to www.shropshirewildlifetrust.org.uk or call 01743 284280.