Members back shake-up of National Trust

THE biggest shake-up in the National Trust for Scotland's history was overwhelmingly backed by its members yesterday in a bid to reverse a financial crisis that is threatening its survival.

Delegates voted by 424 to two in favour of recommendations put forward in a hard-hitting review by former Holyrood presiding officer George Reid.

In his report, Reid found a "gridlocked" 1920s governance style and said board members have known for years that the current set-up is "not sustainable".

He called for the Trust to concentrate on a smaller core of key properties, with management partnerships to be examined in others. Members were urged to "have the courage" to put problems behind them and "go for a fresh start".

The Trust's members considered the report at an AGM in Glasgow's Clyde Auditorium, where new chairman Sir Kenneth Calman was officially installed.

Outgoing interim chairman Dick Balharry said: "This is a new dawn for the National Trust for Scotland.

"I am entirely positive about the future.

"The new chairman, Sir Kenneth Calman, and chief executive Kate Mavor now have the remit and authority to move ahead with the Trust's modernisation and to ensure it endures to conserve Scotland's heritage."

A pressure group which was set up to challenge the Trust management disbanded before the AGM yesterday.

In Trust For Scotland, formed by disaffected members of the heritage organisation, said they had helped spark "radical reform".

Last year's AGM was held in Edinburgh amid concern over the Trust's governance and for the future of some of Scotland's most treasured sites.

The pressure group was angry at moves to close historic buildings and sell Wemyss House, its Georgian headquarters in Edinburgh, while its finances are squeezed.

Reid's review found that the Trust accumulated "all sorts of bits and pieces over the years", including bungalows, sheds, woodman's huts and steadings. He also expressed astonishment that there was no register of all their properties, and no figure could be placed on the cost of their upkeep.

"They're not of heritage significance - get rid of them," Reid said.

Mavor told The Scotsman newspaper yesterday that there are no plans to sell off the NTS's 130 "major and historic" properties.

But she said that 1,500 other properties, including byres and steadings of "no heritage value or visitor function", were being considered for sale.