Members of the National Trust vote against members resolution to ban the use of barbed wire on their

The National Trust Annual General Meeting (AGM) was held on Saturday, 20th October 2018 at the STEAM Museum in Swindon.

Voting took place to decide the future of barbed wire on National Trust (NT) properties with members voting to allow the continuation of this form of fencing across more than 618,000 acres owned by the Trust.

A members' resolution – put forward by just 50 NT members – proposed the adoption of a new policy to ban the installation of any new or replacement barbed wire on NT properties. In addition, the resolution also proposed the implementation of a plan to remove barbed wire from NT properties within five years but during that time to identify higher risk sites and to remove the wire immediately.

Polly Portwin, the Countryside Alliance's Head of Hunting, who attended the meeting and voted against the resolution said: "Thankfully common sense prevailed in this instance however after the trail-hunting resolution proposed last year, the Trust has yet again found itself in a position where it has to respond to the signatures of just 50 of its 5.2 million members.

"If this proposal had been successful it would have cost millions of pounds to implement over the next few years, using valuable funds that would have otherwise been used for the real conservation and environmental projects of the sort that the Trust was set up to deliver."

Just 0.69% of the Trust's members voted on the resolution, with the total number of votes cast totalling 35563. The resolution was defeated by more than 10,000 votes and was not carried. The full results can be seen here.

Results of the elections to the National Trust council were disclosed at the AGM with Elizabeth Staples, Duncan Mackay, Anne Casement, Nick Stace, Jane Dean and Paul Roberts being voted in.

In addition, prior to the AGM, members were invited to vote for the appointed bodies to the Council, with the National Farmers' Union, the Tenants Association of the National Trust and the Royal Agricultural Society of England all being appointed. The NT's constitution requires the Council to hold an election every six years to determine the 18 organisations that have the right to appoint someone as a member of the Council.

Full details of the election to the Council and the appointed bodies can be seen here.