World's End Fields Restoration Scheme

Introduction/ Background

The Marches Mosses BogLIFE project (LIFE15 NAT/UK/000786) is a six - year project running from 1 October 2016 to 31 December 2022. The project aims to restore Britain's 3rd largest lowland raised bog within the Fenn's, Whixall & Bettisfield Mosses and Wem Moss NNRs near Whitchurch, Shropshire and Wrexham in Wales. The bog has been extensively drained for conversion to agriculture and forestry and for peat extraction, but an average of 3 m of peat still remains.

World's End is situated adjacent to Bettisfield Moss towards the southern perimeter of Fenn's, Whixall, Bettisfield, Wem and Cadney Mosses Site of Special Scientific Interest (S.S.S.I.), which is also a Special Area of Conservation (SAC) and forms part of the Midlands Meres and Mosses Ramsar Site. The fields to be restored lie within the S.S.S.I.

The present World's End drainage system is particularly complex as it contains a pumped field drainage scheme constructed some 42 years ago with the benefit of a grant from the Ministry of Agriculture Fisheries and Food (MAFF). The pumping station was probably provided to counter the poor drainage conditions within the area which are still prevalent today. The restoration of the land can only be achieved by the ability to control water levels within the area, but the changes to the drainage pattern to achieve this control, cannot impact adversely on the continued agricultural usage of neighbouring land, nor increase flood risk to properties or access to properties within the area.