National Trust elections – a member’s view
- BASC Press Team
- October 14, 2022
- 10:16 am
The National Trust AGM takes place on 5 November, but the deadline for voting is the 28 October. While BASC remains neutral, we encourage our members, who are also members of the National Trust, to use their vote. BASC member Chandos Gore Langton gives his view on the National Trust elections…
BASC has highlighted that the National Trust AGM is imminent, 5 November, but it seems its crucial Council election voting deadline, online and postal, is 28 October.
Whilst the desirability of engaging in the voting process has been highlighted, BASC has understandably not given any direction. However, it strikes me as a fascinating battle on quite a knife edge, with big potential ramifications.
I am particularly concerned that, though a lot of shooting takes place on National Trust properties in some cases it has been banned or restricted. For that reason and others I am reluctant to support the National Trust management and their seven Council candidates.
A lot of people not in sympathy with the National Trust management have resigned but surely the best course is to stay in and use voting rights. I say this particularly because I feel the Council elections could easily result in an upset for the existing management and big changes.
Make your vote count
The National Trust always steers members how to vote and is nearly always successful. However, last year a dissenting pressure group called Restore Trust got two out of six Council places for its candidates, against National Trust wishes.
Restore Trust explains its objectives on its website, which I feel are worth a read here.
In essence it seems to want to depoliticise the National Trust, make it more democratic, move it away from rewriting history and put more emphasis on original donor wishes.
I would very much encourage my fellow BASC members, who are also National Trust members, to vote rather than just sit back.
I enjoyed reading through all the 26 Council candidate manifestos on the National Trust website. I must admit that even aside from the shooting issue I am rather sympathetic to many Restore Trust aims, but that is a matter of personal preference.
However, it seems to me that backing the seven Restore Trust candidates is highly likely to be in our interests. Their names can be found on the the latter’s website and details of how to vote are on the National Trust website.
Last year I checked and saw that no one won a seat unless supported by either Restore Trust or National Trust so supporting those in the unsponsored category may not be that fruitful. I am really interested to see what happens.
Regarding the AGM motions, the one that particularly interests me is the one on proxies. It appears that if one only wants to vote on one of a few motions and then one does not tick abstain on the other motions, one gives discretion to the meeting chair. That does not seem right or fair.
