At the AGM held on 6 November at the City Hall in Newcastle, National Trust members voted to appoint eight new members to the Trust's Council and also to endorse the new rules for general meetings which are being introduced as part of the wide-ranging changes the Trust is making to its governance structures.
Twelve candidates stood for the eight Council positions that became available this year. The following candidates were elected:
| Candidates elected to Council
| Votes cast
|
| Harry Goring |
53,367 |
| Michael Quicke |
52,138 |
| Mary Villiers |
51,984 |
| Henry Keswick |
49,102 |
| Robert Waley-Cohen |
48,936 |
| Hugh van Cutsem |
48,800 |
| David Wootton |
46,553 |
| Judy Ling Wong |
38,081 |
For this year's Council elections the Nominations Committee has been constituted with two independent members and has continued to make recommendations on how the Chairman's discretionary proxy votes might be cast.
As part of the Trust's ongoing governance changes and in line with the recommendations of the Governance Review Report approved by the Council last year, this election will be the last in which discretionary proxy votes will be cast by the Chairman for Council elections.
General meetings
Voting also took place on a Council resolution asking members to endorse new rules for general meetings of the National Trust, again as a result of the wider changes that are being implemented as part of the Governance Review.
The changes include new rules allowing voting for Council elections to take place by post before the AGM (electronic voting will, in due course, be provided as an alternative to postal voting) and some procedural changes to the ways in which resolutions are put forward to General meetings.
53,750 votes were cast in favour of the Council Resolution (1,873 votes were cast against) meaning that these changes to General meetings can be implemented in time for next year's AGM (to be held in Brighton on 12 November).
William Proby, Chairman of the National Trust, commented;
"I am delighted to welcome our new Council members and the knowledge and breadth of experience they bring with them. I am equally pleased that members have continued to provide overwhelming support for the wide-ranging changes we are making to our Governance structure. I look forward to welcoming them to next year's AGM when the majority of these changes will have been implemented."
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