SOME of the city’s most famous faces could soon be immortalised in statues as part of a plan to put up ‘gateway’ art installations on the edges of Worcester.

Worcester City Council wants to hire an artist, at the cost of around £10,000, to come up with a number of sculptures to be placed on some of the city’s busiest islands to spruce up the views for drivers travelling in and out of Worcester.

Famous figures put forward so far include county cricketing legend Basil D’Oliveira, Claines-trained racehorse Pineau de Re, music hall star Vesta Tilley, First World War soldier turned city priest Geoffrey Studdert Kennedy otherwise known as ‘Woodbine Willie’ and intrepid record-breaking long-distance pilot Sheila Scott.

Royal suggestions for sculptures include King John, who is buried in Worcester Cathedral, and Charles II, who fled the country following defeat in the Battle of Worcester in 1651.

Money for the art installations would come from a £100,000 fund already committed by the city council last year.

Initial ideas include following a similar design to the life-size metal sculpture Portrait Bench installed near Diglis Bridge by walking and cycling charity Sustrans in 2013.

The metal sculpture depicts Worcester cyclist Ernest Payne, Sir Charles Hastings and a Royalist and Roundhead soldier.

Other suggestions put forward include an art installation similar to Road Rage by Nina Coulson, a full-size road sign sculpture which depicts key events in the Battle of Shrewsbury or Pierre Vivant’s Traffic Light Tree in London.

Nina Coulson is a co-founder and director of Movement, an artist-led project space on the platform of Foregate Street station.

The other option is using all of the money to build a larger piece of art and place it a single point in the city.

The council’s environment committee wants to use Sustrans’ Portrait Bench as inspiration for other life-size figures focusing on local historical, cultural and sporting figures.

Up to £2,500 of the ‘gateway’ fund would be used to clean and reposition welcome Worcester signs spread around the boundary of the city.

The plan will be discussed by the environment committee at a meeting on Tuesday (July 23).