The Sunday Times newspaper has published a critical article accusing the National Trust of “hypocrisy” over its decision to sell off parcels of land for housing.

In an article headlined National Trust is ‘housing speculator’, the newspaper reports that the National Trust has sold off land for housing, and residents living in areas nearby are unhappy about the fact.

However the trust has pointed out that it is sometimes necessary for more houses to be built, in order to give local people somewhere to live, and that when this is the case, it supports doing so.

The trust said that it only sells where land meets a “genuine need for local housing” and that only one acre in every ten thousand that it owns is earmarked for housing.

“We are not against development in principle,” the trust said in a statement on its website, in response to the story. “To the contrary, we are for good development. We have always supported good quality housing built in the right place as identified in local plans and which meets our planning principles.

“Working with the local planning system to make good choices for the location and design of development is absolutely essential. That is why we want to ensure the planning system is well resourced and effective – so that everyone benefits.

“When we very occasionally release land for development we aim to use it as an opportunity to showcase what good housing can look like.

“We only sell land for development when we are completely satisfied that any proposed scheme passes a rigorous set of design and environmental standards we apply as part of our decision-making process.”