Research by the National Trust found that people from ethnic backgrounds don't feel the countryside is for them.
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The Director General of the National Trust has told LBC people from ethnic backgrounds don't feel confident in the countryside, as she explained how they are trying to change that.
Speaking to LBC's Tom Swarbrick at Drive, Hilary McGrady said people from ethnic backgrounds are telling the National Trust they do not feel the countryside is a place for them.
Ms McGrady said they accept the experience of people as reported to them, and have to "respond in a way that tries to help".
She said: "The National Trust is here for everyone, that's part of our charitable purpose."
Exploring why some people of ethnic backgrounds may not feel welcome in the countryside, she suggested: "There's a whole raft of reasons.
"Everything from it's not culturally something that they necessarily feel as if it's part of what they do when they go there.
"They don't necessarily know, 'what am I meant to wear, how do I behave, what's a countryside code? I've never heard of it'.
"There are loads of different reasons why they don't feel all the time confident. And our job is to help support that.
"And that's, I think, absolutely central to our purpose, to be of benefit to the whole nation, not just a bit of it."
‘They might not know what to wear or how to behave…’
@TomSwarbrick1 asks National Trust head Hilary McGrady why she thinks the countryside could be considered ‘less welcoming’ to people from ethnic minorities. pic.twitter.com/cgwXMWFm3N— LBC (@LBC) March 23, 2026
Conservative Party Leader Kemi Badenoch accused the National Trust of using anti-white rhetoric after it replaced the term ethnic minority with "global majority".
Ms McGrady responded to the comment, saying the change was made because a report concluded that it was the preferred term according to their research.
She told LBC: "For me, that's a respectful thing. Someone asked to be referred to as something."
"The spirit of this was trying to work with people who actually don't have a huge amount of access or don't feel able to access the countryside," she said. "And we wanted to be supportive of helping them do that. That's all it was."
'Was HS2 time and money well spent?'
@TomSwarbrick1 asks National Trust Director-General, Hilary McGrady, whether the Government's decisions are 'actually protecting nature'. pic.twitter.com/9rUWkp26pL— LBC (@LBC) March 23, 2026
The National Trust has launched a rare campaign asking the public to contact their MPs to call for an urgent increase in action to reverse nature’s “freefall” in the UK.
The call, which Ms McGrady said has not been launched “lightly”, comes as polling for the National Trust reveals restoring nature is important for voters of all political hues.
But people believe the Government cares less about it than they do themselves, the polling of 4,000 people by More in Common for the trust found.
The survey also found the UK’s countryside and nature is second only to the NHS as a source of pride for Britons.
And it found that policies to weaken wildlife and nature protections in the planning system to boost development were unpopular with voters across the board.
The UK’s biggest conservation charity said the country is one of the most nature-depleted in the world, with millions of birds disappearing from the skies in recent decades and just 14% of English rivers in good ecological health.
However, the trust said, the Government did not appear to be taking the issue seriously enough, pointing to the Prime Minister and Chancellor’s recent comments describing wildlife such as bats, snails and newts as “blockers” to development and new housing.
It is the first time in 15 years the National Trust has launched a campaign to ask its members and the public to put pressure on the Government to change course.
