The National Trust has launched a public campaign to recruit a new chair to lead its board.

The charity is looking for “someone who has experience and credibility to oversee a large national organisation, and can bring value and insight to debate”.

The chair should also be able to “command respect on a national stage” and champion the charity’s mission of “delivering public benefit to the nation”, it added.

Current chair Tim Parker is stepping down in October. His final term had been due to end in 2020 but he extended this amid the pandemic.

“We’re looking for an exceptional candidate; someone who will bring different experiences and new ideas together with the skills and talent to be our chair,” said National Trust Council member Paul Roberts.

He said: “We are a 126-year-old institution and custodians of an extraordinary array of houses, gardens, coastline and countryside, as well as works of art, objects and artefacts that help tell the country’s rich national story.

“Our chair plays an important role in overseeing this work, helping us continue to meet our founding mission to celebrate the country’s heritage and natural places, whilst ensuring we are meeting the needs of a changing environment and people’s day-to-day lives.

“As our charity and nation recover from the pandemic, this vital role will help us continue to play our part in supporting the public, and help look after nature, beauty and history for the nation to enjoy.

“Despite having just been through our most challenging year, the scale of our conservation ambitions remains undiminished, with significant programmes underway and planned to protect our built heritage and collections, and to restore the health of our natural world.”

There’s nothing quite like a walk in nature. Have you been anywhere to stretch your legs this week? pic.twitter.com/MmiPVejAyg

— National Trust (@nationaltrust) September 5, 2021

In August the National Trust announced it is giving its workers summer siestas due to increasingly hot weather cause by climate change.

Meanwhile, in July the charity was accused in an article in The Spectator of rejecting job candidates if they voted for Brexit, an allegation it branded “ludicrous”.

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