Fifty years of dumped waste in Shropshire to be cleaned up
A former breakers' yard which lies in a conservation area and closed after 50 years leaving 100,000 tyres and car parts behind, is to be cleaned up.
Shropshire Wildlife Trust wants to restore the 15-acre site as an area of wildlife-rich peat bog.
It is launching a public appeal to help convey the site back to nature.
The scrapyard lies on the Marches Mosses, a wetlands area which crosses the Shropshire and Cheshire border.
The trust has bought the scrapyard but said it will have to get specialist help to clean it up.
It currently contains 100,000 tyres, tonnes of wing mirrors and bumpers and oil sump pits.
Once cleaned, the site will be covered with peat allowing the bog habitat to regenerate.
The trust said it needs to raise about £500,000 to clean and manage the land.
Four years ago, the government gave the wildlife trust a grant of more than £500,000 to help maintain the wetlands and make them more accessible.