THE future of Worcester parks and playing fields could be secured for generations to come under a jubilee honours scheme.

The city’s leading councillors will discuss a plan to help guarantee the future of publicly owned open spaces, including woodland and play areas, when they meet on Tuesday.

The move is part of the national Queen Elizabeth II Fields Challenge, to mark the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee this year.

The Queen is due to visit the city in July.

Subject to receiving the rubber stamp by Worcester City Council cabinet, the move would see a handful of parks and other open spaces nominated for inclusion in the scheme.

Decision-makers at Fields In Trust – the national body handling the jubilee project – will then have the final say.

Those open spaces which get the nod will get a plaque and an accreditation but their names will stay as they are, city parks chiefs have said.

Councillor Roger Knight, who as elected head of cleaner and greener is responsible for the city’s parks, said the move would single out “special pieces of land within the city and include those areas in the jubilee celebrations”.

Specifically, any park or land which gets the thumbs up will also have a covenant placed upon it that it be used by people to play sports and do other outdoor activities.

City council documents setting out the plans say unsuitable sites will be those of “strategic importance for the future development of the city, or required for operational or alternative use.”

City chiefs are also hoping that winning accreditation will reinforce “the city’s green reputation”.

One of the key aims of the national project – aside from classing 2,012 sites with the QEII Jubilee accreditation – is also to entice private landowners to put aside ground they own for sporting and recreational use by people in Worcester.

Successful sites will be the centrepiece for jubilee-related events in the city, and parks chiefs hope residents in the area will support nominations.

The process is expected to be completed by the summer.

Councillor Knight said: “We’re looking at a number of sites – there will be a few put forward, and once we’ve narrowed the choices down we will ask local people what they think and go from there.”

Worcester’s King George V Playing Fields in Brickfields was created under a similar scheme.