A newspaper is launching a bid to engage readers with local journalism in the area of its patch with the lowest voter turnout.

The Barnet Post has launched the campaign in the lead up to the May local elections.

Colindale had the lowest voter turnout in the London Borough of Barnet’s most recent local elections, with just 31.4pc of those eligible turning out.

Now the Social Spider-owned Post is to conduct focus groups with local people in Colindale to better understand what they believe needs to be changed in the area.

In a message to readers, the Post said: “We want to know if you engage with your local councillor and, if not, why not? What issues are impacting you and your community? And how councillors can better support you?

“We will be writing up your views into an article to be featured in Barnet Post which we will show to councillors who are up for election in the spring.

“To achieve this, we’re asking local people to really drive the news agenda and participate in local democracy.

“After our engagement with people in Colindale, we’ll be making comparisons with neighbouring ward Burnt Oak which had a similarly low turnout in the last elections.

“By making the comparison we hope to see if engagement in local news impacts the numbers of people turning up to vote. “