Large swaths of National Trust land are in danger of becoming “no-go” areas because of overbearing health and safety regulations, according to the organisation’s longest-serving council member.

Rodney Legg, 62, is concerned that an increasing trend to sue for compensation in the event of accidents may prompt the trust to ban visitors from certain places. But he is determined it should refuse to be cowed by a blame culture and keep land open for public access. His plea is to be made today to an audience of about 600 grassroots members who are in Swindon for the trust’s annual meeting. As he steps down from the ruling council after 22 years he will urge the trust to continue to take risks.

He will claim that an increasingly urban population is partly to blame for people putting themselves at risk, such as standing under trees in high wind. But given the amount of land involved and the number of visitors, accidents were bound to occur.

“With a landholding of 640,000 acres — which equals 1,000 sq miles — we own the eqivalent of one old-style English county. Therefore we must expect that 1 in 50 of national accidents, fatalities and headlines will happen on trust land — if we are lucky,” he will say.

“The difference is that we advertise and encourage people to visit our land. Most counties contain their share of feudal estates that have spent the past 500 years keeping the public out. Much of this green and pleasant land is now being put behind new money fences, gates, walls and CCTV cameras.

“Therefore, unless NT is to stand for ‘no trespassing’ we must heighten our risk profile by inviting peole to step on to our land, fall into our lakes and rivers and get clobbered by wind-born debris from our 6 to 12 million killer trees. That’s a conservative estimate.

“While inside the great houses, American visitors cry ‘mould’ and think of terminal illness and calling their attorney if they find themselves entering a room that contains an antiquarian book.”

“Things could be so much worse — we could have been given Beachy Head and we might also be caring for Brunel’s Clifton Suspension Bridge.” These are both known suicide spots.

A National Trust spokesman said: “Mr Legg is speaking for himself, and not the National Trust. The trust is always concerned about accidents on our land and we take all reasonable measures to prevent them. We are not inclined to discuss individual cases.”

Two years ago Daniel Mullinger, 11, from West Bergholt, Essex, died after being hit by a falling tree during a school trip to the trust’s Fellbrigg Hall estate in Norfolk.

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