John Story has stepped down from his position at the helm of Story Homes’ Cumbria and Scotland division.

Mr Story, son of Cumbrian tycoon Fred, had risen through the ranks of the family empire, before taking his most recent role.

But he has been replaced by Colin Wood, who moves across from his role as managing director of the Story Homes’ North West arm.

Mr Wood’s role has been taken on by Paul Fleet, who was previously strategic land director.

Mr Story remains involved in the business as a non-executive director, a Story Homes spokesman confirmed.

“We have had a reshuffle in the Cumbria and Scotland team and now have Colin Wood as our new managing director,” she added.

The move appears to end the hands-on day-to-day involvement of Mr Story in the Story Homes business.

However, the spokesman declined to comment on Mr Story’s current work status.

Mr Story began working for the family firm as a teenager, working as both a labourer and engineer before going to university.

After graduating with a maths degree, he joined big four accountancy firm KPMG in Newcastle, before returning to the then internal plant hire division of the family business as finance manager.

Aged 27, he worked as finance director for Story Contracting, after the decision was taken to demerge the company into separate contracting and homes businesses.

He moved across to Story Homes as finance director when Fred Story retook the reins of the business as chief executive, moving on to become managing director of Cumbria and Scotland following the decision to split the company into distinct regions.

In an interview with in-Cumbria magazine in June, John Story outlined the reason for his increased involvement in Story Homes.

“We’d grown really quickly, and we’d tried to modernise and take on what the big companies and big corporates did, but we’d gone too far that way,” he said.

“We’d lost a bit of the family business side of it – what a family business should do and how it should be run.”

John Story also outlined his ambitions for the business, with a new set of house designs being delivered in 2019.

“It is very exciting but a lot of work to do,” he added.