Immigrants should visit stately homes to feel more British, claims National Trust chairman
IMMIGRANTS should visit the National Trust's stately homes to help them feel more tied to British history, the chairman of the organisation has said.
Tim Parker, who was appointed as chairman last year, described the importance of knowing how we arrived "where we are today" and said that everyone needs "to be tied together by something".
He added that the National Trust's 300 historic homes and 620,000 acres of countryside were a good way to bond people "from so many backgrounds" together.
Mr Parker told The Telegraph: "We all of us need to have a sense of how did we arrive at where we are today.
"[This is] ever more important because you have people in this country from so many backgrounds and they need to be tied together by something. It is a sense of being an inhabitant of these islands.”
He added: "The world is changing as we speak and there is a new generation all the time coming in.
"It is our job to give people a good taster of what the Trust can offer them and hopefully get them to come back with their partners, or their families or whatever it is.
"There is no doubt in my mind that over time because many people first generation, second generation will come to our properties."
We all of us need to have a sense of how did we arrive at where we are today
Meanwhile, Mr Parker also called for developers to construct better quality homes to end the "endless row of faux vernacular box type structures" that do nothing for "aesthetics of a village".
He then hinted at a change in stance on the charity's criticism of the Government's decision to relax planning rules.
He said: "We don’t just allow unbridled development, we need to strike a balance as well with the need for the country to build houses."
The National Trust is an organisation dedicated to preserving cultural heritage across Britain, Wales and Northern Ireland.
Mr Parker, who works for the Trust for 100 days a year unpaid, took over from Sir Simon Jenkins as chairman last September.
Last week the group unveiled a £1billion 10-year plan to nurse the countryside "back to health".
Part of the project includes aiming to reverse the 60 per cent of wildlife species currently declining across the UK by providing more habitats and protection schemes.
