Seaton Delaval Hall owner ‘not greedy’

Jan 7 2009 by Tony Henderson, The Journal

THE sister of Seaton Delaval Hall owner Lord Hastings has spoken out over what she says is the widespread belief that her brother will make a financial killing from the National Trusts bid to acquire the building.

The trust is seeking to raise £6.3m for the Northumberland hall.

Harriet Astley said: Everyone locally seems to think that all this fundraising for Seaton Delaval Hall is going into my brothers pocket, but it is totally not true. It is completely wrong. My brother is not a greedy money-bags who wants the hall money for his pocket. Ms Astley said that she feared the idea that Lord Hastings was profiting could deter people from contributing to the appeal.

She said: He is giving the hall to the nation in lieu of death duties. He has explored all the avenues for the best way to preserve the hall and keep it as an entity, with all its contents. He has investigated every possibility and the most important thing to him is to keep the house and contents together that is its historical value.

Our fathers passion was to save the hall and my brother wants to do his best to make sure the hall is maintained for the nation and for the local community.

The money being raised for the hall is not for his pocket, which is what everyone thinks.

I know people who wont give to the hall fund because they think it is going into Lord Hastings pocket, but its not.

Lord Hastings farms at Holt in Norfolk, while his sister lives in South Africa, but visits the North East.

She said that the only money which may go to Lord Hastings was the market price for farmland after the National Trust asked to acquire around 500 surrounding acres in addition to the hall grounds.

David Ronn, trust regional director, said: When the trust first looked at acquiring Seaton Delaval Hall we identified that in order to buy the property, undertake essential work to open the attraction to visitors, and ensure that there is enough money to secure the halls future, it would cost £13.2m.

Of that, the trusts board has promised that if the external fundraising campaign is successful, they will provide an endowment of £6.9m which will be used to maintain the property in perpetuity.

He said the remaining £6.3m raised externally would cover acquisition and project costs. The trust hopes to raise £2m from the public appeal and £4.3m from public bodies.

Following the death of both of his parents in 2007, Lord Hastings has a significant Inheritance Tax liability and he has offered a significant part of the property to the trust in settlement of that liability, said Mr Ronn. A lot is down to the private discussions between Lord Hastings and the tax man. It is believed that the hall, or a significant part of the property, would cover the tax liability and be transferred to the trust. I think it is pretty likely that he will cover the liability and that very little cash, if any, will change hands, said Mr Ronn.

He said that much of the money raised by the appeal would go on improvements such as health and safety measures, car parking, rewiring and sanitation works to enable the hall to receive tens of thousands of visitors.