The National Trust is planning an ambitious programme of improvements, it has said in its annual report and accounts.
The trust’s latest documents, for the period to February 2018, show that it had total income of £594.9m in the year. This is up £3.2m on the previous year, despite last year’s income including a one-off payment of £20.5m.
The single largest source of income was membership, which rose almost 10 per cent from £200.7m to £219.8m.
Membership was up 6 per cent to a record 5.2 million. Visitor numbers reached a high of 26.6m.
The trust has also announced plans to borrow £100m for long-term funding following a deal signed in July 2018, after the end of the financial year covered in the accounts. This will “finance a programme of investment in the trust’s visitor and commercial infrastructure and its let estate”.
The trust will draw down £50m in March 2020, and pay interest of 2.66 per cent on it annually until 2058. It will draw down another £50m in March 2022 and pay interest of 2.65 per cent annually until 2063. All capital will be repayable on those dates.
The programme of improvements follows a gradual decrease in visitor satisfaction scores over the past four years.
“Rapid growth has led to challenges for the charity,” the trust said in a statement. “Small cafes, car parks and shops – often built decades ago – have struggled to accommodate surging visitor numbers, leading to queues and frustration at peak times.
“Many locations still have only basic facilities and other outdoor sites have no catering on offer at all. The number of visitors rating the service they received at trust properties as ‘excellent’ was 7 per cent lower than expectations in 2017/18, and despite consistently good scores they have been in decline over the last four years. That’s why the trust has decided to act.”
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