Tyre-some Shropshire sight will remain until winter
An eyesore Shropshire site filled with thousands of tyres will remain untouched until later this year.
Work to clear the heavily polluted scrapyard ahead of turning it into a new nature reserve is not expected to start until winter time at the earliest.
Shropshire Wildlife Trust said further investigations needed to be carried out before the site at the former Furber's Breakers Yard in Whixall, near Whitchurch, was cleared.
The trust is currently running an appeal to raise £500,000 to buy, restore and maintain the site. It believes it will take three years before a new visitor centre is opened at the nature reserve as part of the scheme.
Sara Pearce, project development officer at the trust, said: "We're having some additional site investigations done to make sure we're clearing the right bits to the right level, so there's not a huge amount happening at the moment.
"I think site clearing is due to happen over the winter/early next year."
The scrapyard sits on two metres of deep peat and has already been part-designated as a special area of conservation.
The sites, which is covered by 100,000 tyres, thousands of litres of disused oil and tonnes of wing mirrors and bumpers, recently closed following 50 years in business.
The trust needs to raise £500,000 to clean decades of waste and clear out several oil sump pits, before covering the site with peat.
The work will allow the bog habitat to regenerate and plant species to return.
The charity then hopes to create new £150,000 visitor facilities.
A recent donation of £10,000 from Restored Earth and funding from the EU means there is only about £110,000 left to raise from Heritage Lottery Fund and individual donations.
Restored Earth, which is largely funded by waste and recycling specialists, Clarity Environmental, was set up to restore land previously used in the waste industry.
It is part of a £5 million five-year project which will include buying more land, raising water levels and restoring habitats across The Marches Mosses – Britain's third largest raised bog.
The ambitious £5 million package of improvements will be delivered in a partnership led by Natural England, together with Natural Resources Wales and Shropshire Wildlife Trust.
The funding will pay for a further 63 hectares, or 156 acres, of peatland, and enable water levels to be raised to improve the raised bog habitat.
Go to www.justgiving.com/campaigns/charity/shropshire-wildlife/scrapyard
