Welcome to the National Trust's latest property

THE National Trust for Scotland has defended its decision to buy a share of an out-of-town shopping centre after it spent £5 million on two warehouses in Yorkshire.

The trust, custodian of the finest historic homes and castles north of the Border, is leasing the units near Bradford to B&Q, the do-it-yourself chain, and Dreams, the bed shop.

The deal, completed earlier this month, represents the first property purchase by the cash-strapped NTS since 2005.

Politicians and union officials described it as a "disturbing" use of funds.

But last night NTS chief executive Kate Mavor insisted it was the best way of maximising its income.

"The National Trust for Scotland is a charity and depends on the income it generates in order to conserve the properties, landscapes and wildlife it holds in trust for the people of Scotland," she said.

"Endowments made by donors need to be invested to generate as much income as possible - these monies are donated to us on the provisio that we invest them and do not spend them.

"Consequently, if we are going to invest them, common sense dictates we do so where they are going to secure the best return.

"Commercial property is one of a number of categories of asset that we invest in to support the running costs of our properties. It is a good source of income generation and is currently achieving around a nine per cent return for us. An alternative would be to hold the funds in a bank account - but returns from bank interest are extremely low at the moment."

"By investing carefully, we can guarantee long-term income that will allow us to allocate resources towards the upkeep and preservation of our properties."

Ted Brocklebank, culture spokesman for the Scottish Conservatives, said he found the English warehouse purchases "disturbing in the extreme".

He said: "I can see the NTS might well want to take advantage of whatever monies it manages to accrue to invest in Scottish ventures but I find it very difficult to see justification for investing in something like this south of the border.

"The fact is the trust has not been able to come up with money to purchase and preserve properties in Scotland because it claims to have been so hard up, so it seems bizarre to put money into buildings which have no particular merit in England."

A report by former Holyrood presiding officer George Reid published earlier this month urged the trust to concentrate on a "smaller core portfolio" of properties to help put its financial troubles behind it.

He was called in by NTS last October after a 13 million black hole led to the shedding of 45 jobs and the mothballing of four sites. A grassroots revolt forced the trust to scale back earlier plans to close 11 sites and shed 91 jobs.Members were also furious that NTS had decided to sell off its headquarters in Edinburgh's Charlotte Square without consultation.

Alan Denney, the national secretary for Prospect, the union which represents the majority of NTS full-time staff, said: "This news is surprising to say the least given the messages the NTS sends us about the state of its finances and their ability to make staff a decent pay offer."

Bill Fraser, from In Trust for Scotland, a pressure group set up by NTS members, said: "We have always felt that poor financial management is at the heart of the trust's problems. NTS should be concentrating on investing in the conservation of properties in Scotland."