Motoring journalist Jeremy Clarkson will face a peaceful protest from the Green Party when he receives an honorary degree from Oxford Brookes University on Monday.

Earlier this year, Green councillors in Oxfordshire wrote to the university's vice-chancellor Graham Upton, urging him to reconsider the decision to bestow the honour on the BBC Top Gear presenter, who lives near Chipping Norton.

But the university defended its decision to award the degree, which it says recognises Mr Clarkson's "enthusiasm and contribution to engineering and motor sports" and the presentation will go ahead.

Green city councillor Craig Simmons said that a number of protesters would attend the ceremony "with banners and bikes".

Mr Simmons said: "We believe Mr Clarkson is the sort of person who deserves an antisocial behaviour order, not an honorary degree."

Green Party supporters are being urged to attend the ceremony in black curly-haired wigs to mimic the presenter's hairstyle. But they are being warned not to be too rowdy, as a posthumous graduation ceremony for Oxford Eastern Bypass crash victim Howard Hillsdon is due to take place the same day.

Mr Hillsdon, 21, from Yarnton, died with three 13-year-old boys in the collision on the A40 on May 28.

The automotive engineering student was a fan of high-performance cars and wrote a number of letters to Mr Clarkson.

The Oxfordshire Green Party warned the university that its credibility would be at stake if the ceremony went ahead, citing some of the controversial things Mr Clarkson has said and done.

They included a recent Top Gear programme in which he drove a Land Rover 4x4 vehicle to the top of a mountain in Scotland, tearing up parts of a rare peat bog and causing ecological damage.

Honorary degree recipients are nominated by the university's staff and students in recognition of their expertise in, and contribution to, their field.

Other people receiving honorary degrees from the university at ceremonies next week include left-wing singer-songwriter Billy Bragg and wheelchair athlete Dame Tanni Grey Thompson, the winner of 14 Paralympic medals.