The region's largest water company has updated its 25-year strategy to put the environment at its heart.

Anglian Water has updated its manifesto with an emphasis on making the East of England resilient to drought and flooding, enabling sustainable growth, becoming a carbon neutral business by 2050 and improving the ecology of the region.

The strategic direction statement (SDS) will underpin the development of the company's five-year business plan which will be written next year.

The strategy highlights six challenges facing the company. Three are common to the whole of the water industry: affordability and customer expectations; the need to plan for the long term; and changing markets, structure and financing of the industry.

The other three were particular to the East of England: climate change; population and economic growth; and the need for environmental protection.

Alex Plant, Anglian Water's director of regulation, said: 'When we wrote our business plan for the five years between 2015 and 2020, we engaged around 50,000 customers in detailed conversations on what matters most to them.

'We spoke to both household and business customers, and wider stakeholders, to create a set of outcomes that we all agreed really matter – and we committed to deliver them. Our SDS builds on those outcomes.

'What was hugely enriching for us was the depth of engagement we were able to have with the advisory panel we created.

'We're confident we changed their view of us – but in response to their challenges, we have also changed our commitments. We think the document is substantially better for this detailed engagement.'

One change made through consultation was the removal of an ambition to drive digital transformation after customers said they felt it was how all businesses should be run.

Greater commitments were also made in the published document to smart metering, and engaging developers and customers on water-efficient homes.

Mr Plant said: 'No-one can know precisely what the world will be like in 25 years, so we don't look at this document as a blueprint. Instead, it sets out the challenges we face and the long-term future we want to achieve.'