National Trust Acts

Question

14:49:00

Asked by

To ask His Majesty’s Government whether they plan to review the National Trust Acts.

My Lords, I should declare that I am a member of the National Trust, as I expect many other noble Lords are as well. I am sure that noble Lords from across your Lordships’ House will join me in wishing the National Trust well in its 130th year. The Government have no plans to review the National Trust Acts. The National Trust is an independent charity run by its board of trustees who are responsible for the organisation’s governance and are accountable to its members and to the Charity Commission.

My Lords, in view of the importance of this famous institution, which has come in for considerable criticism in recent years, would it not be prudent to review the legislation under which it operates? How can an institution function satisfactorily when it has a voting system that effectively bars from office those of whom the current leadership disapprove, when history is distorted by undue emphasis on colonialism and when a great house, Clandon Park, is left in ruins after an insurance payout that should have been used to restore it? National Trust managers profess to see raw beauty in this blackened shell—raw folly and betrayal would be more like it. Are there not some worrying features of the activities of the National Trust today, including its governance, which should trouble us all?

I feel quite strongly that the National Trust is a charity, and as a charity, government needs to be really careful of the extent to which we take a view on how a charity that has democratic processes should operate. To note the point that the noble Lord made around the voting system, it is for the trustees of the National Trust to determine the running of elections in line with the charity’s governing document, but I note that the National Trust members voted in 2023 to keep the quick vote system. The noble Lord asked a number of questions, one of which was around Clandon Park. I also note that the trust’s proposals in relation to this historic building reflect in-depth conversations with heritage bodies, architectural specialists, community organisations and local residents, and also with over 75,000 visitors to Clandon since the fire.

My Lords, the National Trust recently announced a bold ambition to return to nature some 250,000 hectares. Given that many of the trust’s holdings consist of unique heritage farmland of the sort immortalised by John Constable and wrestled from nature over centuries, do His Majesty’s Government have any concerns that this rewilding will fall foul of the trust’s statutory purpose to permanently protect places of natural beauty or historic interest for the benefit of the nation?

The Government are aware that the trust is working with farmers to restore nature, including those who are tenants on National Trust land. The trust will support the network of farmers across the land to be even bigger players in nature recovery and climate resilience while producing good, healthy food and running sustainable businesses. In the Government’s view, the two are not mutually exclusive.

My Lords, I think it is a shame that the party opposite chose to make what is a success story of 130 years part of its culture wars. Can my noble friend the Minister tell us whether the Government have welcomed the new strategy of the National Trust, which includes the goal of equality of access to countryside and beauty?

I am sure that all noble Lords would agree with one of the co-founders of the National Trust, Octavia Hill—herself probably viewed as quite radical at the time—when she said that “We all want quiet. We all want beauty … we all need space”. It behoves all of us to support the National Trust in ensuring that there is equality of access to nature and history, by both opening up historic buildings and preserving heritage and our countryside in a way that preserves it for the future.

My Lords, local authority expenditure has fallen dramatically in recent years, as has DCMS grant in aid. Heritage organisations are struggling with managing and maintaining both buildings and the natural environment. The National Trust’s new 10-year strategy highlights this. As well as bricks and mortar, the National Trust includes the white cliffs of Dover and sections of the Welsh coastal path in its areas of responsibility. How do the Government intend to help support the heritage sector to be resilient and net-zero efficient in protecting its heritage assets?

One of the ways that the trust is trying to ensure that the countryside, peatland and so forth are available for future generations is through its work to help the UK reach net zero by 2050. This Government have committed to be the first generation to leave the environment in a better state than that in which we found it. We are very supportive of the work that the National Trust does, as the biggest conservation charity in Europe, to ensure that future generations can enjoy what many of us enjoy on a regular basis.

My Lords, in 1895 the visionary Octavia Hill co-founded the National Trust because she believed in the life-enhancing virtues of clean air and blue sky. In 2025, the positive correlation between that exercise and mental and physical well-being is medically proven. However, the latest Government data reveals that well over 40 million people do not have access to a green space a short walk from home. Can the Minister say what the DCMS strategy is to address this urgently?

Support the National Trust.

As my noble friend Lady Thornton behind me said, we will support the National Trust. It is important to remember that it is the biggest conservation charity in Europe; the coastline in Wales has been mentioned, and I think that every Member of your Lordships’ House will have their favourite National Trust building and their favourite walk on National Trust land. By working together and with charities such as the National Trust, we will ensure that everybody has access to nature.

Does the Minister agree that the National Trust is doing precisely what we should all be doing by focusing its remit on biodiversity and climate change in its rural spaces, and that its new strategy is therefore an admirable and forward-looking thing?

Clearly, it is up to the National Trust and its members what the content of the strategy is. However, I agree with my noble friend on the important points she raised.

My Lords—

My Lords—

My Lords, it is the turn of the noble Lord.

I think that most of us would agree that the National Trust does a very fine job and has done so over many years. None the less, the noble Lord, Lord Lexden, has a point. It is a huge institution, is one of the largest landowners in the country and is in receipt of huge amounts of public money, not only directly in grants but indirectly through taxpayer reliefs. The time might now be ripe for a review that will look not only at the governance, to which the noble Lord referred, but at the accountability mechanisms, to make sure that the body remains well run.

The governance and the focus of the work of the National Trust is a matter for its council, not for government. I personally and the Government do not have an issue with the running of the National Trust. If any noble Lords have concerns about it, they should note that any issues around its compliance with its charitable purposes should be made to the Charity Commission. I repeat that the National Trust is the biggest conservation charity in Europe. It opens up our countryside and heritage, including diverse buildings—from Paul McCartney’s childhood home to Cliveden and Chartwell—and, as has been noted, the Welsh coastline. Rather than bashing the institution, we should support it to continue with its strategy.

My Lords, criticising some of the trends in the governance of the National Trust is not bashing the institution. I am a proud member of the National Trust; I think that it does excellent work, not least on the south-west coast path, which I walk regularly. However, there has been a trend to ignore a lot of criticism of the National Trust, and we must face it: introducing the quick vote system was an attempt by the National Trust to freeze out legitimate criticism by other members of the trust. There is increasing concern about how it has behaved over Holnicote in Exmoor, where it ignored the wishes of the Acland family, and what it has done about legal trail hunting, which goes beyond any legislation either House has introduced. There are now the issues that my noble friend Lord Lexden raised over Clandon. The Government should be concerned about this huge national institution that touches on all our lives.

I do not feel that the critics of the National Trust have been silenced; they have been quite vocal. The governance and the focus of the work of the trust is a matter for its 5 million members—more than the combined memberships of all political parties—rather than the Government. It is a sorry day when the Government start interfering in matters that are not to do with them, rather than leaving them to the charity and its members and governing bodies.