The National Trust is to shift its focus towards Britain's cities and towns as the charity's director-general embarks on a "radical" new direction.

Hilary McGrady, who was named as the trust's leader in December, has spoken publicly for the first time after getting the job and insisted the country's biggest charity needs a fresh approach.

People living in urban areas in the UK are the people who are most deprived of natural beauty, according to the director-general, who said it is the National Trust's responsibility to bring it to them.

Talking to the BBC, she allured to plans for trust-run city allotments, and said: "The reality is, I want to go to where they [city residents] are.

"The people that need beauty the most, are the ones that have least access to it. I think the idea of people coming to us on our terms - those days are probably gone.

"I want to reach more people, and more people live in urban areas. It's got to be radical. But rather than change it I want to add to it."