Hosepipe bans could become a thing of the past as a leading water company says that they are “no longer relevant.”

Yorkshire Water said the effectiveness of temporary use bans is limited, while behaviour change campaigns could be much more useful.

Chief executive Richard Flint made the comments as the firm published an independent "white paper" it commissioned to look at evidence on the effectiveness of both bans and alternative approaches to changing behaviour.

"Hosepipe bans were developed as a 20th century solution to drought, but we are now in a very different world,” said Mr Flint.

"Social media means it's now much easier to get messages to people and we have much more sophisticated ways of targeting information to make it easy for people to take action.

"We now need to ensure our drought plans reflect this, which might mean hosepipe bans are a tool that are no longer relevant."