Two London councils have been issued with a final warning to stop publishing fortnightly newsletters or risk court action by the government.

Hackney and Waltham Forest councils have continued to publish twice-monthly newspapers in defiance of government guidelines that they should be no more than quarterly.

However communities secretary Sajid Javid has now issued a direction to the two authorities to comply with the rules.

Once a direction has been issued, councils are required to take the necessary decision to comply within 14 days or could face court action.

Mr Javid made clear his actions were designed to help protect the local free press.

He said: “An independent free press is vital for local democracy and it’s important that we support them in holding local leaders to account.

“Councils shouldn’t undermine local democracy by publishing their own newspapers more often than quarterly.

“While the majority of councils abide by the Publicity Code, Hackney and Waltham Forest have ignored repeated requests to stop publishing their council newspapers so frequently. In the interests of local democracy, I will therefore use my powers to require them to do so.

Hackney Council’s publication, Hackney Today, has a print distribution of 108,000 in a borough already served by the Archant-owned Hackney Gazette and the independent Hackney Citizen.

Waltham Forest News is distributed to 97,000 households in an area covered by the Waltham Forest Echo and Waltham Forest Guardian.

The guidelines on quarterly publication were brought in by Mr Javid’s predecessor Eric Pickles in 2011 and wirtten into the Local Audit and Accountability Act 2014.

Both councils have since received a number of letters warning them to comply with the code.