Senior couple watering seedlings in their garden

The Consumer Council for Water has welcomed the decision to call off a hosepipe ban in the north west of England – but warned consumers “we’re not out of the woods yet”.

Around 7 million people across the region will no longer face restrictions after supplier United Utilities took the decision to pull the plug on a temporary usage ban, which was due to come into force from 5 August.

The company said the decision had been taken after its own efforts to conserve water, reduced demand from its customers and recent rainfall had combined to improve its overall supply of water resources.

Responding to the decision, Robert Light, Northern Chair for the Consumer Council for Water, said: “Consumers deserve great credit for the way they’ve responded to the call to use water wisely and we welcome United Utilities’ decision not to press ahead with restrictions and the inconvenience this would have caused households – but we’re not out of the woods yet.”

“With more hot weather forecast, we’d encourage consumers to keep using water wisely and there should be no let up from United Utilities in its efforts to reduce the amount of water being wasted through leaks.”