National Trust Policy & Advocacy blog

Recent history is seemingly repeating itself, with yet more storms and flooding in recent weeks. In the last six months, we have experienced frequent high levels of rainfall with extraordinary quantities of water; inundating homes and affecting the lives and livelihoods of thousands of people. It felt like the devastating floods of 2007 and 2014 were happening all over again.

Dozens of people holding flaming torches and banging pots and pans attended our recent village wassail. This ritual awakens the trees for the year to come. By ‘breathing in’ every year, deciduous trees draw down carbon from the atmosphere. They are a silent, efficient and beautiful carbon sequestering technology beyond the design of humans.

At the National Trust we’re working to address climate change. In the next 10 years we are reducing our own emissions further, planting 20 million more trees and capturing more carbon in our land to become carbon net zero by 2030. <br><br> Yet, the places we look after can also help explore the history of climate change. From stately homes to coast and countryside, the stories in this blog ...

With just two weeks to go until the general election, all the parties have now set out their plans in their manifestos. In this blog, we look more closely at what they say on heritage and nature.

When the National Trust was founded almost 125 years ago, it was on the idea that people need historic, beautiful and natural places, a principle that still guides us in everything we do today. <br> <br/> In that age of rapid Victorian expansion, our founders wanted to protect special places for the benefit of everyone. In fact, some of our earliest acquisitions were areas of open ...

Last week, a new session of Parliament began with the Queen’s Speech setting out the Government’s plan for legislation. What’s unusual about this year is the emphasis on Bills to improve the environment. So why this focus on nature, and what’s the National Trust got to do with it?