The Canal & River Trust is to have a new Chairman, as Tony Hales prepares to step down after a decade heading the organisation responsible for most of the waterways in Britain.

The Canal & River Trust is to have a new Chairman, as Tony Hales prepares to step down after a decade heading the organisation responsible for most of the waterways in Britain.

Allan Leighton, who became one of CRT’s Trustees in September 2014, will take over following the CRT Annual Public Meeting on September 23. Mr Leighton chairs the Co-Operative Group, and has previously been the Chief Executive Officer of Asda Plc and chair of the Royal Mail. Deputy Chair Lynne Berry said she was “delighted” to announce his appointment at “an exciting time”, and said that his “His belief in the importance of our canal system to public life” would help to move the Trust forward.

Ms Berry also paid tribute to Tony Hales, who has chaired CRT and its Government-run predecessor British Waterways since 2005, for “the vision and passion to take the waterways out of state control in what was the largest ever transfer of state infrastructure into a charitable organisation”.

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