Barnet Council has been accused of breaking its promise to keep weekly waste collections just weeks after it appeared in the Tories’ local election manifesto.

Next Tuesday (June 5), the council’s environment committee will consider plans to stop collecting garden waste for three months during the winter and to cease separate food waste collections entirely.

The proposals also include scrapping all the recycling bring bank sites for residents without access to doorstep recycling and reorganising bin collection routes – a move that will see collection days change for most residents.

Labour has said the plans – designed to save £830,000 a year – will inconvenience residents and make it harder for the council to meet its target of recycling 50 per cent of the borough’s waste.

Labour’s environment spokesperson, Cllr Alan Schneiderman, said: “Not even a month after the election, Barnet Tories are already starting to cut bin collections despite their election promises.

“It’s quite clear that the plan to cut green waste collections and scrap food collections entirely was drawn up before the election but kept secret until now.

“These plans are bad news for residents and the environment and Labour councillors will be opposing them. How long before the three-month suspension of garden waste collections becomes permanent and how long before other bin collections are affected?”

The row is the latest in an ongoing spat that has seen the council come under fire for repeatedly missing weekly collection targets.

In the run-up to the council elections, the Conservatives suggested Labour would scrap weekly collections if they won a majority – but the Tory-run council’s failings have led to accusations of hypocrisy.

The council claims only 25 to 30 per cent of residents make use of food waste collections, while demand for garden waste collection drops off significantly over the winter.

Chairman of the environment committee Cllr Dean Cohen said: “We know that refuse and recycling collections are of huge importance to residents in Barnet. We are therefore looking at how we can continue to provide a high-quality service, in the most efficient way.

“We will be  discussing a range of waste collection proposals at next Tuesday’s committee, including changes to garden waste during winter months and incorporating food waste into the existing waste collection service.”

Residents wishing to submit questions to the environment committee have until 10am tomorrow (Thursday, May 31) to do so.

The environment committee meeting will be held on Tuesday, June 5 at 7pm in Hendon Town Hall.