Scottish Water has announced a change at the top as outgoing chief executive Douglas Millican leaves after 10 years in the post.

He will be replaced in the £295,000-a-year role by Alex Plant, who is currently director of strategy and regulation at Anglian Water. Anglian supplies services to seven million people and is the largest water company in England in terms of geographical area.

The Scottish Government has approved the appointment of Mr Plant, who will take over when Mr Millican stands down at the end of May. In total, Mr Millican has spent more than 20 years on the board and in the senior management team of Scottish Water.

“A key challenge will be taking forward the transformation work which is already underway," Mr Plant said.

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"This will ensure that Scotland's water and waste water services continue to provide value for money and provide confidence for customers as we face some real challenges, especially around climate change.”

Mr Millican said: “We continue to focus on delivering excellent service for our customers in communities the length and breadth of the country at the same time as transforming, to ensure we can address the challenges of ageing infrastructure and rapidly changing weather patterns caused by climate change."

Mr Plant has been with Anglian Water since 2015. Prior to that he held positions in the Royal Mail, Cambridgeshire County Council, the Civil Aviation Authority and HM Treasury, as well as several non-executive roles.