A UK council has sparked backlash after announcing it will remove flags from the streets. Derby City Council said it was time to bring the campaign of flag flying “to an end” and it will begin to remove flags from September 29 on bridges, walls and lamp-posts.
Councillor Sarah Chambers of the Labour-led council attributed the decision to a “statutory responsibility” to keep public spaces safe and well-maintained, and to prepare the area for seasonal and commemorative events. In a statement, she said residents would need to obtain permission to fly posters, banners and flags on public land or street furniture going forward.
Chambers said the authority had taken a flexible approach to flag flying in recent weeks, at a time when the Raise the Colours campaign saw St George and Union Jack flags line the streets, but it was now time to bring it to an end.
The Labour-led authority decided not to “exercise our discretionary legal powers to remove flags or bunting” on street furniture unless they had been a health and safety hazard, according to Chambers.
The council cabinet member for communities, equalities, and public safety offered residents the opportunity to retrieve their flags safely during the next week, before they are taken down by the council.
The authority encouraged residents who wanted to install an official flagpole to approach their local ward councillors.
It added that the council “proudly” flies the Union Flag outside the Council House and it “fully” supported people who chose to fly flags on their own property.
However, the decision has been met with backlash by councillors.
Councillor Tim Prosser, Reform Derby group leader on the city council, said people misunderstood flag-flying, and it was not a “show of aggression or racial hate but simply as a token of national pride and frustration about our Government”.
He believed that removing the flags would increase this frustration and the “complete failure to understand this situation is part of that problem,” reports the Derby Telegraph.
Councillor Steve Hassall, the city council’s Conservative group leader, said it highlights “how badly misplaced the council’s priorities have become,” and residents were more concerned about crime, antisocial behaviour, and safety.
They are not the only council to remove flags in public places. York said flags will be removed because “many in our communities are feeling threatened”. In Blackpool, flags have been removed because they were deemed a safety risk to motorists.
