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Explora: Environment

and Resource

ORIGINAL RESEARCH ARTICLE
Conservation, recreation, or both? The National

Trust for Scotland’s exploitation of UK country
park policy, 1967 – 1992

Phil Back*

Independent Landscape Researcher, York, United Kingdom

Abstract

Britain’s two National Trusts are charitable bodies, primarily known for conserving
historic buildings, but also ensuring public access to those properties and their
surroundings, and to important or historic landscape areas. With that remit in
mind, it is curious to find the National Trust for Scotland (NTS) engaging closely in
the creation of country parks, intended by the UK Government as dedicated (and
somewhat expendable) recreational spaces. This paper uses five separate and distinct
case studies to compare the approaches taken by the NTS in its Scottish country park
projects. Very little academic work has been done on the NTS, and this paper fills
an important gap in exploring the organisation’s approach with recreational land
under its control. It shows the organisation addressing restrictive donor conditions
contradicting a published ethos of open access, showing itself willing to bend, and
*Corresponding author: even to subvert, the rules set by legislators, to use funding in innovative ways, and
Phil Back to promote ‘passive’ recreation – walking, picnicking, relaxing – as an approach less
(phil@philback.co.uk) likely to compromise the scenic aspects of the landscape that visitors are seeking
Citation: Back P. Conservation, to enjoy. This analysis is important to present-day understandings of the balance
recreation or both? The National between landscape conservation and public access, a dilemma that continues
Trust for Scotland’s exploitation
of UK country park policy, to trouble organisations concerned with conservation but dependent on public
1967 – 1992. Explora Environ support and desirous of opening up access.
Resour. 2025;2(1):5890.
doi: 10.36922/eer.5890
Keywords: Conservation; Access; Country parks; Charitable bodies; Public funding;
Received: November 12, 2024
Recreation
Revised: January 13, 2025
Accepted: February 10, 2025
Published online: February 21, 1. Introduction
2025
Copyright: © 2025 Author(s). The National Trust (NT) for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty, generally
This is an Open-Access article known as the NT, is the largest voluntary organisation in the United Kingdom, and
distributed under the terms of the
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Creative Commons Attribution also the largest private landowner. Founded in 1895, it has been described as ‘the
License, permitting distribution, most important and successful voluntary society in modern Britain,’ evolving from a
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and reproduction in any medium,
provided the original work is largely patrician organisation led by aristocratic and property-owning interests into a
properly cited. more democratic body with a stronger voice for its members. Focused initially on the
Publisher’s Note: AccScience conservation of significant buildings and landscapes, it also has increasingly provided
Publishing remains neutral with public access and promotes a wider understanding of heritage, a responsibility that has
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regard to jurisdictional claims in
published maps and institutional become controversial, notably in highlighting the origins of several of its properties in
affiliations. wealth gained through the slave trade. It is an important body in the UK with the ear
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Volume 2 Issue 1 (2025) 1 doi: 10.36922/eer.5890