National Trust for Scotland chair on storms, Covid and saving seabirds

The Herald Scotland

a day ago

Before reaching this, his final few months as chair of Scotland's largest membership organisation, there would be devastating storms, headline-grabbing controversies, and growing challenges driven by climate change.
From battles over battlefields, to ever-expanding wind farms and controversial housing developments pressing up against the nation's treasured landscapes, the past few years had it all.
Pitmedden Garden near Ellon in Aberdeenshire, one of 38 gardens in the care of NTS (Image: National Trust for Scotland)
Beyond the buildings, in carefully manicured gardens and wild nature reserves there was also the heartbreak of avian influenza. Cutting a deadly swathe through seabird colonies in Trust-run landscapes including St Kilda, St Abbs and Fair Isle, it left dedicated NTS rangers devastated.
At one stage, redundancy fears loomed for staff. A handful of much-loved properties were sold and questions hung over the future of others - some suggested even the First Minister's official residence, Bute House, might be moved on.
It was, by anyone's reckoning, a baptism of fire.
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Yet Sir Mark's announcement this week that he will step aside in August after six rollercoaster years comes accompanied not with regret, but with something of a glowing report card.
The Trust, it seems, hasn't just weathered the storm - quite literally in the case of January's Storm Éowyn, which toppled more than 10,000 trees across its properties - but has emerged stronger, more resilient, and crucially, more popular than ever.
Between March last year and February this year, over 5.6 million visitors passed through the Trust's sites. It is a record-breaking figure, up by 1.1 million on the previous year and the highest in its 90-year history.
Glencoe National Nature Reserve led the charge with more than one million visitors, closely followed by Glenfinnan Monument and The Hermitage in Perthshire, each drawing around half a million people.
St Abb's Head near Eyemouth is among eight nature reserves in the care of National Trust for Scotland (Image: National Trust for Scotland)
Given where the Trust found itself in spring 2020 - with doors locked, all 492 permanent staff at risk of redundancy, and warnings that some 'non-heritage' land and property could face sale - the turnaround has been remarkable.
Reflecting on two terms as Chair during which he's led a Board of Trustees in the task of overseeing the work of NTS Chief Executive Philip Long and his team, it's impossible for Sir Mark to ignore the looming shadow of Covid.
Before the pandemic, his hope for the Trust were clear: stabilise finances, grow membership, and start laying foundations for the 2031 centenary.
'I felt in some ways that NTS had a varied but occasionally troubled past,' he recalls of the period leading up to his appointment. 'And I was concerned that the Trust should be - and be seen to be - financially viable.'
Then lockdown came.
'It looked pretty grim to begin with,' he says. 'It was highly disruptive. No one could visit our properties, and quite a lot of people's jobs, at least temporarily, ceased to exist.'
A £28 million income loss was on the cards and an emergency public appeal for £2.7 million was launched.
NTS property The Tenement House tells the story of Glasgow family life (Image: National Trust for Scotland)
Yet as Scots reconnected with nature and heritage on their doorsteps, something shifted.
Government support helped, as did the generosity of donors, the loyalty of Trust members and its army of volunteers and staff.
'It was much less bad than we had feared,' Sir Mark reflects. 'NTS worked very hard to sustain membership and to keep in touch with people, to reassure them about the future. I think on the whole, it recovered reasonably quickly.'
Indeed, the crisis would in some ways breathe new life into the organisation.
It parted ways with its controversial president, Neil Oliver, whose outspoken views on politics jarred with some members. It also began the delicate process of exploring uncomfortable histories linked to colonialism and slavery, bringing long-sidelined stories to the forefront.
While many Trust buildings are rooted firmly in the past, in recent years the organisation's voice become increasingly present-day and outspoken, particularly around contentious planning issues that threaten to overwhelm natural landscapes or encroach on historically significant sites.
Plans for a horse trotting track near the Battle of Bannockburn site were turned down last month after NTS objections
There was, for instance, the Trust's high-profile rallying cry over a proposed horse harness racing track on land at Bannockburn, scene of the 1314 battle and NTS heritage centre.
Now, as Sir Mark prepares to hand over the reins, he is clear: the Trust's voice should continue to grow louder in the face of Scotland's conservation challenges.
Seabirds, and the looming issue of offshore windfarms, are high on his mind.
From the puffins of St Kilda to the gannets of St Abb's Head and Fair Isle's Great Skua colony, the Trust is custodian to some of the country's most important seabird colonies.
The dramatic cliffs of St Abbs Head attract seabird colonies (Image: National Trust for Scotland) While few would argue against the need for renewable energy, Sir Mark is mindful of the risks it can pose to nature.
'We all recognise the importance of tackling climate change and supporting actions like offshore wind,' he says. 'But we also have to be aware of the terrible toll that can be exacted on seabird populations by these enormous offshore wind installations.
'We need to work with others in the field to ensure we get the maximum benefit with the minimum harm.'
The Trust has spoken out loudly against the proposed windfarm at Berwick Bank, off its St Abbs Nature Reserve, pointing out that developer SSE Renewables, have predicted a far higher seabird mortality for it than for other UK windfarm.
With up to 307 turbines across an area four times the size of Edinburgh and just 23 miles off important seabird colonies, SSE Renewables' own estimates suggest more than 31,000 bird collisions over its projected 35-year lifespan.
NTS fears for its "seabird cities" of guillemots, kittiwakes and razorbills that make their nests on the steep cliffs of its St Abbs reserve.
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It's becoming used to making its voice heard: the Trust helped secure a ban on industrial sandeel fishing in the North Sea, arguing with other organisations of its critical role as a food source for seabirds.
Looking ahead, Sir Mark suggests it's likely the Trust will take a more active stance as new renewable developments and the vast powerline infrastructure they require begin to reshape Scotland's landscapes.
'We know that upgrading the connectors needed to carry electricity from offshore wind platforms to the rest of the country are likely to be increasingly controversial,' he adds. 'There may be - and in one case there will be - large overhead lines crossing Scotland.
'I think there's going to be a real discussion over to what extent it makes sense to underground part or the whole of some of these connectors.
'We are part of nature ourselves,' he adds, highlighting the Trust's gardens, land holdings and agricultural interests. 'It's a complicated relationship, but one we need to get right.'
St Kilda's gannets in flight - seabird colonies at NTS sites were decimated by avian influenza (Image: National Trust for Scotland)
Beyond seabirds and cables, there's Scotland's crumbling built heritage to consider.
Sir Mark, former Director of both the National Museums of Scotland and London's Victoria & Albert Museum, speaks passionately about the Trust's work to maintain and safeguard properties, from Canna House in the Inner Hebrides, the one time home of Gaelic culture collectors John Lorne Campbell and his wife Margaret Fay Shaw, to the recent "surprising" visit he made to Thomas Carlyle's Birthplace in Ecclefechan.
He has a particular fondness for the work of Alexander 'Greek' Thomson, singling out the Trust's interior décor project at Holmwood House in Glasgow as a particular triumph. Meanwhile, Charles Rennie Mackintosh's Hill House and the original Willow Tea Rooms building – both in the Trust's care - remain close to his heart.
They are success stories, but he remains concerned that more effort should be put into protecting the pair's achievements.
Mackintosh at the Willow in Sauchiehall Street, a recent addition to the NTS portfolio of buildings (Image: National Trust for Scotland and Mackintosh at the Willow)
For example, should NTS ever have a bottomless pit of money, Thomson's Category A Listed Egyptian Halls in Union Street would top his personal wish list of buildings he'd love to see saved.
That, of course, is a dream. But, he adds: 'One doesn't need to say you are going to take on the whole responsibility of a building to say that we think that it's preservation is important and it's future needs to be assured.'
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Indeed, as he makes way for his replacement Chair, the current Electoral Commissioner Scotland and Convener of Court at the University of Strathclyde, Dame Sue Bruce, it's with a hope that the Trust's voice will grow ever stronger.
She takes over at the end of summer, at a time of growing membership that is already closing in on the ambitious 500,000 target contained in the Trust's ten-year strategy, Nature, Beauty & Heritage for Everyone strategy.
Launched in 2022, it also targets investing £100 million investment in its sites, something Sir Mark states is already well on course.
He goes confident for the organisation's future beyond it's 100th year.
'I feel really confident in my successor and the team that she will find in place,' he adds.
'I'm not worried about the future of the Trust. If anything, there are regrets about leaving it.
'The next few years will be exciting. Looking forward to the centenary in 2031, with a whole programme working up towards that at the heart of which will be a new centenary garden at Newhailes House, which will be fabulous.'
NTS property Newhailes House near Musselburgh, where a centenary garden is planned to mark the organisation's centenary (Image: National Trust for Scotland)
As for his own plans, there's time to enjoy his seven grandchildren, his Edinburgh bookshop, and to work on his forthcoming book about the landscape artist Algernon Newton.
There's not much he would change about the last few years, one of the most tumultuous—and transformational—periods in the Trust's history.
Except, perhaps, the obvious.
'It would have been wonderful if we hadn't had Covid – and fewer hurricanes would have been nice,' he laughs.