L

Lord Swire (Con)

Speaking in the House of Lords on 21 January 2025

Debate

National Trust Acts

Contribution

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.

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