National trust admits assets may be sold off

• National Trust headquarters in Edinburgh Picture: Jayne Emsley

Chief executive Kate Mavor said the assets that could be targeted would be those of less significant historical interest, such as steadings, byres and bungalows. Other measures could include leasing holdings to private organisations and individuals, and running others jointly with local communities.

The charity owns some of Scotland's most iconic sites and properties, including Culloden battlefield, the islands of St Kilda and Culzean Castle, but Ms Mavor stressed that its 130 "jewel in the crown" key properties would remain in protection for the nation, leaving the future of another 1,370 under consideration.

Hundreds of members will gather at the Clyde Auditorium in Glasgow today for a key annual general meeting to debate a raft of modernisation measures proposed in a hard-hitting independent review by George Reid, former presiding officer of the Scottish Parliament. Last year's AGM was attended by 600 members.

Mr Reid's review followed a financial crisis last year that saw 45 job cuts, a number of properties mothballed and the sale of the NTS headquarters at Wemyss House in Charlotte Square, Edinburgh.

• Kate Mavor, NTS chief: 'Selling is an option' Picture: Dan Phillips

Speaking to The Scotsman ahead of the AGM, Ms Mavor said: "I want to make it clear that we have absolutely no plans to sell our 130 major and historic properties. The context of this is crucial - we have 1,500 buildings or structures, including byres and steadings which have been gifted individually or parcelled up with estates.

"Some of this type of property have no heritage value or visitor function, which is why the current review is doing a full assessment of everything we own. There are no plans to sell off properties at this time and it may be that the property review in due course recommends different uses for them rather than selling them. But selling them remains an option."

Ms Mavor said it was "well-intentioned if not hard-headed decisions" coupled with the financial crisis that had led to the Trust's crisis.

"What led to the financial problems is that the Trust has taken on too many properties without sufficient endowments. This was done out of passion by people caring for and looking after buildings, landscapes and islands and that is why we have them today."

An audit is under way to assess the full extent of the Trust's portfolio after Mr Reid expressed concern there was no central database of its assets, with some details being listed on a card index or handwritten inventories.

It also emerged that only 12 of the Trust's major attractions had endowments to help pay for their running costs.

Bill Fraser, spokesman of In Trust for Scotland, a pressure group of members set up to reform the Trust, said: "The Trust has to be realistic about its finances. But if the Trust's management is going to come forward with proposals for the disposal of certain properties this needs to be discussed openly, with openness and transparency, not foisted on the organisation. I think it would be unsustainable continuing as we are."

Rev Charles Barrington, from Edinburgh, another member of the pressure group, said: "There is nothing inconsistent with selling properties with what was in Mr Reid's excellent report.

"If they are not of value to the Scottish nation and they are legally allowed to sell them then it is a straightforward transaction."

However, Michael Moss, professor of archival studies at the University of Glasgow and a former member of the NTS board, said selling off properties raised a number of thorny issues.

"This is not a decision that the Trust can make on its own and needs to be seen in a much wider context and include interested and interconnected parties from the wider Scottish estate.

"For example, Historic Scotland provides repair and maintenance grants for certain properties with money provided by the Scottish Government. The Scottish Government therefore needs to have a view on this.

"I can also envisage a great deal of objections in some local areas where every property has its own little following. Leith Hall, for example, was converted into flats and this ran into local opposition.

"To an extent this opposition can be sentimental, as in the case of properties flagged up by In Trust for Scotland, where there is a burst of enthusiasm for preserving a property which is led by one or two individuals and which falters when one of them loses interest or becomes ill.

"It would be a mistake for the Trust to attempt to identify those properties on an arbitrary basis without consulting widely."

Prof Moss said there was no benchmark or mechanism for deciding that certain buildings were "lesser" than others.

"The Trust can't just turn round to the local community and say ‘I know you very much love this building and you think it should be saved but we're going to sell it' unless they can come up with some pretty robust reasons.

"If they did attempt to go down this road there would need to be some mechanism for policing their actions.

"A property cannot be earmarked for sale because it is deemed to be too modern or unattractive. There are a number of buildings from the 1960s which I would defend as being of their time and worth preserving.

"The whole ambience of the house including its grounds would also have to be looked at.

"Before the NTS does anything rash it needs to look at the entire interlinking Scottish estate, Historic Scotland and other interested parties included."

Prof Moss added that in his opinion the review by Mr Reid had not gone far enough in determining the future of the Trust.

"I agree with Reid that the estate needs to be viewed in a wider context but to do that the Trust itself needs to be taken into a wider context," he said.

"The two options which Mr Reid did not take into consideration and would have made a tremendous difference to this whole issue were the possibility of the Trust merging with the National Trust in the rest of the UK. This was a huge opportunity to save a lot of money which could then have gone back into the properties.

"The other option which was overlooked was joining up with Historic Scotland to create a new trust."