Village told to remove flags for Christmas lights

Stuart Jeffery, leader of Maidstone Borough Council, says he believes all the flags on the A20 are St George's flags

A village has been told by the Reform-led Kent County Council (KCC) it must remove flags, including St George's flags, from lamp-posts if it wants to put up Christmas lights.

Harrietsham Parish Council (HPC) said KCC issued a permit for Christmas lights to be installed along the A20 in the village with a condition that any flags on lamp-posts were removed beforehand as they posed a safety risk.

The parish council says this means the Christmas lights may not be able to be installed this year and that it is still liable for the hire cost.

Peter Osborne, KCC's cabinet member for highways and transport, said: "Flags on streetlight columns pose a risk during installation, so they must be removed to ensure the lights go up safely and can be enjoyed by everyone."

The KCC councillor says the claim HPC would face "significant extra costs is simply wrong" and that "safety must come first".

HPC said when the flags were first put up they were discussed with its contractor, which advised they could install the lights around the flags without issue.

But this is no longer an option due to the condition from KCC, HPC says.

"It is not within the contractor's remit to remove flags as part of the installation process," the parish council said.

"As the flags and street columns are not council property, the parish council is not permitted to use public funds to pay for their removal."

Resident Ray Bastone says people can put the flags back up after Christmas

HPC is asking anyone who put up the flags to remove them to allow the festive lights to be installed.

Osbourne said the contractor HPC hired could remove flags as part of the same job with no significant extra cost expected.

"Flags on streetlight columns pose a risk during installation, so they must be removed to ensure the lights go up safely and can be enjoyed by everyone," he explained.

In August, KCC said it would not be removing flags, including St George's and union jack flags, from buildings and lampposts unless they posed a safety risk to road users and the public.

Stuart Jeffery, leader of Maidstone Borough Council, said the decision was "absolutely ironic" considering KCC's previous stance on flags being put up.

"They're cancelling Christmas for Harrietsham, which I think is a shame," he said.

Jeffery said he was in favour of the flags being removed as he thought they were "divisive".

"Anybody could go up and remove those flags. They are on public property," he explained.

Harry Cuthbert, who works locally, said the flags "spread division"

Ray Bastone, who lives in Harrietsham, said: "I don't know why the people who put the flags up don't take them down for Christmas so the lights can go up. They can put them up afterwards if they want.

"It's a shame we'll have no lights up."

Fellow local resident Mike Flawn said: "It's good to see the St George's flag up by the road but somebody should take responsibility and take them down for Christmas.

"I'd like to see the flags put up again in January as I'm very patriotic."

Harry Cuthbert, who works nearby, says it is a case of "reaping what you sow".

"These flags spread division in the community and now we're losing the lights which bring us all together," he added.