A SENIOR Worcester Conservative has defended moves to hand a county beauty spot to the National Trust - and has rejected claims of "giving away the family silver".

Councillor Lucy Hodgson, the elected boss of Worcestershire's parks and open spaces, says the trust has "demonstrated time and time again" how ideally placed it is to run Kingsford Forest Park.

Last week Worcestershire County Council finally got the go-ahead to hand the site over for free in a bid to save £30,000-a-year running costs.

Before the handover, the land was independently assessed as being worth £75,000.

Cllr Hodgson, cabinet member for localism and communities at County Hall, was asked to defend the move at a full council meeting, with the opposition Labour group heavily criticising it.

Under the deal, the trust cannot levy any parking charges on visitors for the first three years.

She said: "The National Trust hasn't given any indication to the council that it intends to introduce parking charges, but just for understanding they've agreed not to do it for the first three years, and to offer roaming in perpetuity.

"I personally think this is an excellent deal, I'm actually delighted to say we're gifting this land to the National Trust, this is an excellent piece of news."

She also told the chamber the trust was the only outside body which showed any interest in the park, saying the council wanted a "succession body" which vowed to maintain the landscape, public access and biodiversity of it.

During the debate Councillor Peter McDonald, Labour group leader, reiterated his concern.

"We're giving away the family silver without a single penny being handed to this council," he said.

"There hasn't been a single debate over it in this chamber."

The 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.

Following the decision, an in-house council watchdog is considering an investigation into the future of all council countryside assets to see how viable they are to remain publicly-owned.

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