A ballot is held each year for the election of Council members. This year we expect seven vacancies. Successful candidates will join the Council for three years from the AGM.
The main responsibilities of the Council are to appoint the Trust’s Chair, Deputy Chair and members of the Board of Trustees (our governing body) and to hold them to account.
The Council is comprised of 36 members; 18 members are elected directly by you and 18 are appointed by organisations which you elect every six years. The Chair is also a member of the Council. All Council members are volunteers. Each serves a term of three years, with a third of the positions being filled each year.
The Council’s annual report is published in the Annual Report for 2021/22. Click the link below for more information about the Council and who its members are.
Find out about the Council
The National Trust’s constitution requires the Council to hold an election every year, to identify the skills and experience of new members that would best meet its needs over the next three years, and to recommend the candidates who best match these needs.
The election process is managed on behalf of the Council by its Nominations Committee. This year’s members were Deborah Lamb (Chair), Sarah Hollingdale, Doug Hulyer and Karen McArthur (independent external member).
The Nominations Committee’s task is to recommend to you those candidates who most closely meet the criteria agreed by the Council. This year the Council sought applications from people who met the general skills and experience criteria detailed in the Governance Handbook. The Council is also keen to improve diversity generally across its community.
The seven recommended candidates are:
These candidates each met a range of the required criteria, demonstrated a clear passion for the Trust and between them offer the optimal balance of skills that the Council is looking for.
While the Nominations Committee has made its recommendations you can vote for whichever candidates you choose.
Some existing Council members are standing for re-election as indicated in the following pages. In all cases, their attendance record in the last term is 13 out of 13 meetings.
The profiles of all the candidates are set out in the next section.
Voting in this election can only be done in advance of the AGM.
Voting closes at 11.59pm on Friday 28 October 2022. See section on how to vote for details.