After three years at the helm of a leading national body, a former Cumbrian health chief is retiring - partially at least.

Never one to shy away from of controversy, it’s no surprise that Professor John Ashton’s final week as president of the UK’s Faculty of Public Health coincides with a report supporting the decriminalisation of drugs.

He has also spoken out in the past few days about why he believes Britain must remain in the European Union.

But he has now formally handed over the reigns to his successor, Professor John Middleton, and began preparing for a very different challenge - to walk hundreds of miles across France to commemorate the 100-year anniversary of the Battle of the Somme.

Prof Ashton was Cumbria’s public health director for seven years, leaving in 2013 following the Government’s controversial restructure of the NHS, which moved public health into the control of local authorities.

However he still lives in the county, at Dent in south Cumbria, with wife Maggie and youngest son Che, now 13.

His plan was to retire, until he was elected president of the Faculty of Public Health - a body linked to the Royal Colleges and other national organisations - to serve a three year term.

That came to an end on Wednesday, and Prof Ashton believes he is leaving the organisation in a good position for the future, when he believes it will play a key role in shaping health policies.

Big issues he has spoken out on over the past three years have included minimum alcohol unit pricing, standardised tobacco packaging, and the introduction of a sugar tax to tackle obesity.

“We can say we’ve been influential in all these areas,” he said. “I would have liked to have seen minimum pricing brought in. But that’s one for my successor to try and push.”

One controversy Prof Ashton would have preferred to have avoided was over e-cigarettes, when his voicing of concerns about the health impact of vaping resulted in supporters attacking him on social media. He responded, using an offensive word in the process, and later had to apologise for his choice of language.

Looking back he described it as a “less than happy episode”, but he does not believe it overshadowed his term.

Instead he believes that the Faculty is now in a strong position, with membership growing and hopes of it becoming a Royal College in its own right further down the line.

Its most recent report, published this week, calls for the decriminalisation of drugs - a move Prof Ashton supports. “It’s about treating drugs as a health issue rather than a criminal issue,” he explained.

The Faculty argues that current punishments are not deterring drug use, with more people than ever being harmed substance misuse. Instead it wants to see those who buy or use drugs on a personal level helped to tackle their addiction, not sent to court or prison.

Prof Ashton believes preventing illness is vital to the future of the under-pressure NHS and is concerned about the impact of major public health budget cuts, both nationally and in Cumbria.

“It’s short-sighted when everyone is saying we have to prevent ill health. Public health in local government is under some stress. It’s finding it’s way in some places but been hit quite substantially in others,” he said.

“In Cumbria, the team I left behind is a shadow of what it was. They lost some very experienced people. But there are also more people within the county council now getting involved in public health.”

Now 69, Prof Ashton said he is ready to relax his busy schedule and improve his work/life balance. But he will not stop entirely, with two new book projects on the horizon, plus public health consultancy and some work with the World Health Organisation in Copenhagen.

But first will come his Somme challenge, trekking the route of the Western Front as it was in June/July 1916 - exactly 100 years ago.

Prof Ashton will complete three sections, over the course of about 13 days, walking about 130 miles in total. He will be there when the walkers arrive at the Somme on July 1 to mark the centenary.

He said: “It’s important to me because my grandfather’s half brother, Arthur Anderton, died at the Somme.”

Prof Ashton, who has four sons and two step sons, will walk the first section with eldest son Kier, 45, who works as a lawyer in Geneva, part with wife Maggie and part with friends.

The Via Sacra walk - from Switzerland to the English Channel - has been organised by Sir Anthony Seldon, inspired by a letter from a First World War soldier, in homage to the millions who lost their lives.