National Trust refuses to reverse termination of shooting lease

"Saving heritage has become secondary to commercial opportunity."

By Barnaby Dracup

Monday, 20 February 2012

National Trust urged by shooting organisation to keep estates open for shooting sports.

Responding to the national media picking up the story of Polesden Lacey and the National Trust’s decision to terminate the shooting lease on the estate, the Countryside Alliance Shooting Campaign manager, David Taylor, said: “It is a great disappointment that the National Trust refuses to yield on its decision to terminate the shooting lease at Polesden Lacey. This follows a similar decision at Wallington in Northumberland.

“Shooting was an integral part of the fabric of these historic houses. Before being passed into trust, shooting played a major role in the landscaping of many National Trust estates. Since then, private syndicates have continued this tradition and maintained that very landscape.

“The National Trust was founded ‘with the aim of saving our nation’s heritage’.

“By preventing shooting on their estates, the National Trust is sending a clear signal that saving heritage has become secondary to commercial opportunity. This was not the intention of those who bequeathed their estates, nor the wish of the Trust’s paying members.”