Editing National Trust (section)

===The Benson Report===
In 1965 the Trust launched [[Project Neptune (National Trust)|Enterprise Neptune]], a campaign to raise funds to buy or acquire covenants over stretches of coastline and protect them from development. The project was successful, raising over £800,000 in its first year, but it had unforeseen consequences for the Trust as the project director, Conrad Rawnsley (a former naval commander and grandson of one of the Trusts' founders, Hardwicke Rawnsley), fell out with the administration of the Trust and conducted a public attack against it. An extraordinary general meeting was called in February 1967 and, although the reform group's resolutions were defeated, the Trust recognised the need for change and set up an advisory committee to look at their management and organisation.{{r|Acorn|p=219–249}} The committee was chaired by accountant Sir [[Henry Benson, Baron Benson|Henry Benson]], who was independent of the Trust. The other three members, [[Len Clark (countryside campaigner)|Len Clark]], [[William Hayter (diplomat)|Sir William Hayter]], and [[Patrick Gibson, Baron Gibson|Patrick Gibson]], were all on the Trust's council. The Benson report was published in 1968 and, although broadly endorsing the Trust's policy, recommended a number of organisational changes, which were then embodied in the National Trust Act of 1971. Following the publication of the report, much of the administration of the Trust was devolved to the regions.{{r|Fedden|p=84–85}}