One of the biggest habitat restoration schemes in Europe is under way in Cambridgeshire to create a vast fenland the size of a city.

An £8.9 million lottery grant, the biggest ever for restoring a natural wildlife sanctuary, has been agreed for the Great Fen Project.

Thousands of species of animals and plants will benefit from the project, which is intended to turn more than 3,000 hectares (7,400 acres) of farmland into fenland.

It is hoped that it will be one of the most popular visitor attractions in Britain and boost the regional economy.

The money from the Heritage Lottery Fund will enable the Wildlife Trust to purchase 1,452 hectares of farmland and begin restoring it.

Work has already started to prevent water draining away from parts of the project area, which will allow reclamation to fenland of fields now used to grow wheat, onions, potatoes, carrots and sugar beet.

Fenland plants and animals are able to begin re-establishing themselves as soon as the ground conditions are wet enough and can be fully restored within three to five years.

The total area to be returned to fen, just beyond the southern end of Peterborough, covers 3,700 hectares and the lottery grant will mean that about half the land eventually expected to be included within the Great Fen is secured for restoration.

Conservationists expect the northern part of the Great Fen to be almost completely restored by about 2025 and are confident that the rest of the project will be achieved by 2050.

The project area included Woodwalton Fen, a small existing fen from which it is hoped that more than 400 species of plants will spread out to reclaim flooded fields. Among the plants that will benefit from the scheme are fen violets, which are found at Woodwalton Fen and only two other places in Britain. Fen wood-rush and the fen ragwort should also thrive.

Animals that will find a haven in the Great Fen are otters, which have returned after an absence of several years, and water voles, one of the fastest-declining creatures in Britain.

The wetland will be home to at least 170 species of birds, including nightingales and long-eared owls, and it is hoped that the restored landscape will encourage bitterns, spoonbills, purple herons and cranes to join them.

Invertebrates will also benefit. An estimated 400 types of beetle are already found at Woodwalton Fen and more could follow, while creatures such as the scarce chaser dragon-fly should increase in number.

Fewer than 1 per cent of the fens in Britain 400 years ago still exist. The restoration of the Cambridgeshire site will provide a large flood-relief area where water can be stored. Carole Souter, the director of the Heritage Lottery Fund, said: “We are particularly committed to supporting projects like Great Fen, which will not only restore and conserve an important stretch of land but also enable local people to be actively involved in its future maintenance.

“Fenlands have a particularly important role to play in protecting wildlife and helping us to cope with climate change. It is essential that they are safeguarded.”

Hilary Benn, the Environment Secretary, commented: “Our natural environment is fragile, has to be looked after and it is up to us all to improve and protect it. And that is exactly what this grant will do.”

Nick Hammond, of the Wildlife Trust for Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire, Northamptonshire and Peterborough, said that the Great Fen will be big enough for visitors to be able to walk around it all day and still feel that there is more to see.

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