A water company says it has no plans to introduce a hosepipe ban in Essex despite the driest summer for 46 years.

Anglian Water has said the East of England, which includes Essex, has only seen 4 per cent of normal rainfall levels in July.

However, it has said resources are "in reasonable shape".

Much will depend on whether the region experiences a second dry winter, spokesman Regan Harris told the BBC.

This comes after the Met Office said the period between January and June this year was the driest in England since 1976.

Read more >>> Why is the 1976 heatwave different to the one we're having now?

Ms Harris said Anglian Water bosses would continue to monitor the situation but told BBC News there is "no immediate cause for concern".

She said: "We're not proposing any restrictions at the moment but we definitely need to be mindful of the water we are using, to make sure there's enough to go around.

"If we get a second dry winter things will look significantly different for next year."

She also says public water supplies and groundwater sources are "in reasonable shape" with reservoirs 80 per cent full on average.

"We are well-prepped for long, dry summers," she added.

"This is the driest region in the country and we get on average a third less rainfall than anywhere else.

"Part of our resilience is preparedness for that dry weather."