The National Trust at its AGM has rejected recommendations made by a group of members condemning the charity's involvement in Pride parades and rewilding its farmland.

The resolution, put forward by five members and backed by a further 45, wanted to see the AGM resolve that it “deplores participation by the National Trust in gay pride parades as divisive and an unaccountable waste of members’ subscriptions”.

The resolution was put forward following the charity’s involvement in a gay pride event in Birmingham in 2019, which they say is “unaccountable, divisive and an exercise in virtue signalling”.

But the call, which the charity had recommended members reject, was not carried by 78,807 to 43,569 votes at the charity's AGM, which was held at Bath Assembly Rooms on November 5.

“Pride promotes and celebrates LGBTQ+ rights across the globe,” said the National Trust in a position statement from its board.

“The Trust has been supporting participation in Pride for many years. This includes enabling staff and volunteers to take part in celebrations, running virtual events and sharing information.

“We support Pride alongside many other events each year including Black History Month, Mental Health Awareness Week and others. The National Trust’s role is to protect and promote everyone’s heritage, of which LGBTQ+ history is an important part.

“We do not believe that taking part in any of the cultural celebrations we support is divisive, in fact we see these events as an opportunity to bring people together. This resolution runs counter to our ethos.”

Another resolution, around rewilding and rewetting National Trust farmland, was also rejected at the AGM, by 84,414 votes to 37,049.

This resolution, that was also put forward by five members and backed by a further 45, was critical of the charity’s support for rewilding “especially at this time of insecurity” amid the war in Ukraine.

“Re-wilding and re-wetting may be fashionable environmental fads, but they are surely irresponsible. The National Trust should again encourage farming on its farmland,” added the resolution.

The National Trust had also urged its membership to reject the proposal, calling it an “outdated and false dichotomy: that land should either be used to grow food or support nature”.

“A healthy natural environment underpins food production, and high-quality food is produced from nature-rich land,” the charity added.

The throwing out of the resolutions around Pride and rewilding were part of a rejection of ‘anti-woke sentiment within the charity’s membership at the AGM.

Restore Trust

Also thrown out were two recommendations backed by the Restore Trust lobby group, which wants to see the charity focus on maintaining historic sites.

It had wanted to create an independent Ombudsman’s office to “ensure that the National Trust is accountable to its stakeholders and is able to resolve complaints effectively”. This was rejected by 86,854 votes to 24,949.

The National Trust had urged members to reject this proposal saying that it is already “subject to oversight from a large number of regulatory bodies”.

Restore Trust had also wanted to scrap the charity chair’s discretionary proxy vote on members resolutions, but this was thrown out by 70,224 votes to 50,263.

Restore Trust also failed to see any of its candidates win council seats at the AGM.

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