Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan says he will intervene if Barnet Council does not halt plans to get rid of its food waste collection service.

Mr Khan made the comments ahead of a meeting, where the authority will decide whether to scrap its food waste collection service for good.

It claims it costs an extra £300k a year to run, on top of other recycling services.

At Mayor’s Question Time earlier today, Andrew Dismore, London Assembly member for Barnet, said the council had “woefully mismanaged its waste”.

Mr Khan reminded Barnet Council it has powers, under the Greater London Authority, to overturn its decision – which does not conform with the mayor’s environment strategy of separate food waste collection services for all councils.

Mr Khan said: “I want to remind Barnet Council that I have those powers.

“London has some of the country’s worst recycling rates and we need to start to come together to revive this.”

In July Mr Khan wrote to Barnet Council asking it to put the decision on hold.

He added: “I have written to Barnet Council to voice my concerns and it does not appear that the council has adequately done its duty.

“Nor, does it say what it has done about food waste.”