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Annual Report 2024-2025

The National Trust is Europe's largest conservation charity, protecting historic places and natural landscapes across England, Wales and Northern Ireland. In 2024-25, 25.9 million visits were made to Trust properties (up from 25.3m); membership stood at 5.35 million individuals; total conservation spend on property projects and acquisitions was £221.2m (up from £193.4m); and appeals, gifts and grants reached record levels. A new 10-year strategy, People and Nature Thriving, was launched in January 2025, committing to create 250,000 hectares of nature-rich landscape over the next decade.

Report snapshot
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About

Protection and conservation of historic buildings (330 houses, 200 gardens, 41 castles, 47 industrial monuments, 140 hillforts); countryside and coastline management; nature restoration (Riverlands, peatland, rewilding, tree planting); visitor experiences and access; Heritage Open Days; Blossom Festival (urban access to nature); outreach and urban places programmes; volunteer programme; apprenticeships (conservation, gardening, stone masonry, joinery); membership scheme; Discovery Houses programme Custom geography from upload: England, Wales and Northern Ireland

Key Metrics

Key Metric 1 25.9 million visits to Trust properties in 2024-25 (up from 25.3m in 2023-24); 5.35 million individual members (2.61 million memberships)
Key Metric 2 £221.2m total spend on property projects and acquisitions (up from £193.4m); £7.3m invested at Sandilands to convert 30-hectare former golf course into wetland nature reserve
Key Metric 3 Record fundraising appeals, gifts and grants in 2024-25; 5% increase in paying visitor numbers; 896 miles of coastline and ~250,000 hectares of land protected

Key Outcomes

  • New 10-year strategy People and Nature Thriving launched January 2025; RHS Chelsea Flower Show Octavia Hill Garden won Silver Gilt Medal, Children's Choice and People's Choice awards; partnership with Defra, English Community Forests and Woodland Trust to plant 2 million trees on Trust land over 5 years
  • Borrowdale rainforest designated King's Series National Nature Reserve; £18m Bath Assembly Rooms conservation and visitor experience project approved; 49 Sycamore Gap Trees of Hope saplings to be gifted across UK; major infrastructure projects approved at Shugborough, Saltram and Trelissick
  • 130th anniversary year; ranked 46th in Financial Times UK Best Employers 2025; Board expanded to 13 Trustees with new non-voting Trustee apprentice role; 70,000 people consulted over 18 months to shape new strategy; 25% carbon emissions reduction since 2019/20

Geography

Other

Impact Snapshot
Key Metric 1
61,819 native oysters deployed across UK restoration projects in 2024/25
Key Metric 2
15,064 people participated in the Beachwatch beach clean programme, submitting 1,256 litter surveys — the highest in the programme's 31-year history
Key Metric 3
17,613 young people engaged through in-person or online youth programme sessions
£11.5 billion Ofwat investment package secured for storm overflow cuts in England and Wales following sustained MCS advocacy
Impact Snapshot
Key Metric 1
191,000 cats and kittens helped — 525 a day (2023: 184,000); 29,000 cats rehomed; 168,000 cats neutered including 13,000 feral cats; 93,000 cats microchipped
Key Metric 2
£96.9 million total income (2023: £89.3 million); £108.5 million net assets; £50.1 million legacy income; 9,800 volunteers (2023: 9,200)
Key Metric 3
430 cat owners helped to flee domestic abuse with 750 cats given temporary foster homes (Lifeline) — up from 229 in 2023; 5.9 million...
Mandatory microchipping for cats in England came into force June 2024 — direct result of years of Cats Protection campaigning; Pet Abduction Act came into force August 2024 making cat theft a specific criminal offence; Cat Manifesto sent to every election candidate with 111 newly elected MPs having responded
Impact Snapshot
Key Metric 1
32,000 people participated in learning activities; 65,000 volunteer hours contributed; 250,000 biodiversity-boosting plants and bulbs planted; 24,000 snowdrops planted by Royal Parks Half Marathon...
Key Metric 2
94% of public rated their visit as good or excellent; 5 consecutive years all 8 parks awarded Green Flag; 160,000+ members making 300,000+ visits;...
Key Metric 3
1,000 free plants donated to local charities, community groups and schools; 200 old noticeboards and maps replaced; 12,500 enquiries handled by visitor support team;...
Queen Elizabeth II Memorial Garden at Regent's Park received planning permission and is progressing — opening Spring 2026; Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Playground renewal received planning permission — opening Spring 2026; Greenwich Park flagship restoration project completed — new meadows, shrubs, community facilities
Impact Snapshot
Key Metric 1
2,876 ha of land under direct influence for nature, with 7 species recovery projects at or near implementation
Key Metric 2
17,935 wilder community engagements in 2024–25 (67,935 cumulative since 2020); 55 wilder initiatives established in schools and public spaces
Key Metric 3
Over 25,000 individuals engaged through skills training, community rewilding events and nature-based programmes
7 species recovery projects delivered including beavers returning to Derbyshire for the first time in 800 years, Atlantic salmon restoration on the River Ecclesbourne, and white-clawed crayfish ark sites