Trevor Walker decided to step-down as chairman at the CSCS Annual General Meeting today.

Walker faced-down a vote of no confidence in August and CSCS chief executive Brian Adams postponed his retirement just weeks later to deal with the leadership crisis.

Walker will be succeeded by Michael Clapham MP who becomes non-executive chairman.

A source close to the scheme said: “The new leadership structure should be sorted soon and we can get on with the important task of spreading the scheme throughout the rest of the industry.

“Contractors are more interested in how the scheme can help them on site rather than the boardroom goings-on of the organisers.”

Brian Adams said: “Michael Clapham has a strong passion for improving health and safety in the construction industry and increasing the skills of the workforce.

“We look forward to working with him to continue to drive CSCS forward as the pre-eminent card scheme for construction.

“The CSCS scheme has gone from strength to strength during Trevor Walker’s five year tenure as Chairman, with card numbers almost doubling to over 1.7 million and the board pays tribute to Trevor for his leadership.

“Over the last few months the scheme has seen record levels of applications for CSCS cards, with over 30,000 applications for cards in both September and November.”