I read in the latest Amateur Photographer magazine, which landed in my doormat this morning, that the National Trust is lobbying a large UK online stock photo library to remove many of some 10,000 images of National Trust properties that are being offered for sale.

For the benefit of our overseas readers, the National Trust is an organisation that buys, maintains, and promotes land and buildings that are of historical interest here in the UK. It's a much-loved national institution, and millions visit National Trust sites every year.

The AP story reports that the Alamy online stock photo library has been approached by the National Trust and asked to removed images that were taken of its sites as visitors are not allowed to make commercial use of photographs of its properties - when taken from within its land.

A rather comical side issue is that if you took a photograph of a NT building with your feet on a public highway, you are exempt! Many photographers on Alamy can't recall where they took their pictures from...

But the main issue is that the National Trust wants to 'protect its brand'. I ask - exactly how does the National Trust actually justify this through its action with Alamy? My argument is that it is doing exactly the opposite. If I was the director of marketing at the National Trust, I would not be wasting my time running around suppressing interest in what I'm supposed to be promoting.

Many of us are only aware of a tiny fraction of what the National Trust has to offer and photographers, both amateur and professional, can only help us to discover more of the treasures of the National Trust portfolio - and that can only be good for the National Trust overall.

So, come on everyone at the National Trust. Stop this petty control-freak behaviour and recognise the benefit that photographers bring you - at no cost to yourselves.