A RESIDENTS group is calling for urgent action to end peat extraction at Lindow Moss following June’s major fire.

Firefighters spent 48 hours tackling a large peat bog fire at the site of specific scientific interest from Tuesday, June 12.

Residents of Wilmslow (RoW), which has one member on Cheshire East Council and two town councillors, has now written an open letter to Sean Hannaby, director of planning and environment at CEC, calling on the former resting place of Lindow Man to be restored as a natural wetland.

The letter said: “Recent fires on Lindow Moss have resulted in Wilmslow people contacting RoW with their concerns for Lindow Moss and the continuing dereliction of this historic site.

“As a matter of some urgency RoW wants to see action being taken to stop the extraction of peat from this site and work beginning to have this invaluable historic and scientific site restored to being a natural wetland.”

Croghan Peat was granted permission by the old Cheshire County Council in 2003 to extract peat from Lindow Moss until 2042.

The firm said it would begin restoration work on the site if a planning application for 14 homes was approved in 2014 – but that application is still yet to be decided.

Tony Evans, chairman of the Saltersley Common Preservation Society, has long campaigned for both the former county council and CEC to enforce the conditions placed on Croghan Peat in 2003 – including the addition of a sluice gate to retain water levels at Lindow Moss.

A sluice gate has never been added to the site and Mr Evans suggested in June that the believed this contributed to the fire – something which RoW agrees with in its letter.

“It is quite apparent very little has been done on the part of CEC to enforce conditions placed upon Croghan Peat in 2003,” the letter said.

“As a result water is draining from the bog, water voles within and around the bog is more and more depleted.

“The recent fires illustrate how dry the peat can now become during prolonged periods of warm weather and local people would like to have this safety and environmental issue addressed.

“Without doubt, failure to enforce the sluice gate has majorly contributed to the fires and on this issue alone action needs to be taken as soon as possible.”

A CEC spokesman said the council would respond to RoW’s letter before making a comment to the Guardian.

Following the fire in June, the council said it would be ‘completely inappropriate to speculate on the cause’ while the matter was in the hands of Cheshire Fire and Rescue Service.

A spokesman at Cheshire Fire and Rescue said the Lindow Moss fire in June was ignited by ‘natural causes’.