A BEAUTY spot in Worcestershire is set to be handed to the National Trust - with council bosses being forced to deny claims of a "secret agenda".

Your Worcester News can reveal how Worcestershire County Council is on the verge of hiving off Kingsford Forest Park, a popular tourist attraction.

The deal, which has been in the pipeline for weeks, comes amid efforts behind the scenes to find operators for council-owned countryside assets around Worcestershire.

Kingsford Forest Park, based in a hamlet near Kidderminster, features vast open heathland, miles of sandy tracks, pine forests, picnic benches and broadleaved woods and is popular with people across the county.

The deal with the National Trust is expected to be finalised by the Conservative cabinet in October.

The opposition Labour group say the tactic means parks around Worcestershire are "at risk" and fear people could be charged to use them.

But Tory leadership has dismissed the reaction as "scaremongering" and say Kingsford Forest Park will be free to use under any deal.

Councillor Peter McDonald, Labour group leader, said: "Residents of Worcestershire will now be paying twice to use their own parks - once through their council tax, and the other through admission fees imposed upon them.

"These country parks have been acquired by the council over the years and been maintained to a high standard with generations of taxpayers' money - only to be handed to other organisations to profit upon without guarantee of future access and maintenance.

"The hard won right to roam across our countryside may well be a thing of the past with turnstiles at every gate."

But Lucy Hodgson, cabinet member for localism and communities, said there is strict "conditions of transfer" over the deal which includes free access.

"The accusations from Cllr McDonald are both nonsense and at worse a chance to scaremonger," she said.

"There is no secret agenda when it comes to Kingsford Forest Park.

"Worcestershire County Council is very proud of its estate of country parks, nature reserves and picnic places.

"The council has been investigating whether there may be other organisations, particularly in the voluntary and community sector, who may be interested in taking on the management of one or more of its countryside sites.

"Such organisations have to have a track record of managing sites in a broadly similar manner in terms of public access, biodiversity, landscape and the historic environment.

"The public would still be able to access the site as they do now for informal recreation, and free of charge."

The council owns six countryside parks or nature reserves, including Worcester Woods, and 11 picnic sites.