Council says it will not prioritise flag removal

The council had a clear policy on not allowing items to be attached to the public highway, a councillor said

A council said it would not prioritise the removal of flags hung from lampposts after it was asked to show "zero tolerance" and take them down.

Union and St George's Cross flags have appeared in the Dereham Road and Barn Road areas of Norwich this week, with police called to related incidents near a mosque.

Independent councillor Maxine Webb told a Norfolk County Council meeting a group hanging them in her ward intended to "victimise and harass", and called on the authority to remove the flags in the city and elsewhere.

"We do not have the resources to go out every time someone puts a flag up right across the county - it cannot be done," said Graham Plant, Conservative cabinet member for highways.

"They are the national flags of our country, we should not be calling them xenophobic or racist in any shape or form."

Allegations of racism were a police matter and the council would only remove the flags during routine maintenance due to the costs and resources involved, he added.

Maxine Webb said she considered chanting by the group erecting flags was racist

Dozens of flags appeared on long stretches of Dereham Road on Tuesday night, while the words "All welcome" were pasted on a hoarding at the junction with Bowthorpe Road.

An online video showed a group of 20 to 30 people chanting and putting up the flags, with passing cars beeping their horns in support.

Dozens of flags have appeared in the Dereham Road area this week

Speaking to the infrastructure and development committee on Wednesday, Webb said: "The council has a clear policy in not allowing people to attach unauthorised items to the public highway and a duty to eliminate unlawful discrimination.

"Will the council show zero tolerance and remove the flags here and elsewhere as a priority?"

She claimed the group putting up the flags on Tuesday had shouted racist chants and intended to "victimise and harass" people using the mosque on Dereham Road.

After the meeting, she clarified she had been referring to the chant "Whose streets? Our streets", which she considered racist.

About 40 people gathered outside Norwich central mosque on Wednesday night

A county council spokesman told the Local Democracy Reporting Service it would continue to work with police if it had concerns about flags on the public highway.

"While the council does not encourage people to put flags up on lampposts and other street furniture, we do not regard these as long-term features," he said.

"As such, the council will not prioritise the removal of such flags over any more urgent, safety-related highway activity, and they will be removed when we next have relevant maintenance crews in the vicinity."

Norfolk Police told the BBC it had stepped up evening patrols in the Dereham Road area to reassure residents, and continued to monitor the situation.

On Thursday night, officers attended a verbal disagreement over the display of flags, with a group of people reporting being followed to West End Street by the another group. Police said no offences were disclosed.

Officers attend reports of a verbal altercation between two groups on Wednesday night, with a man in his 20s was later arrested and bailed on suspicion of common assault.

Police were called out twice on Tuesday night to reports of a "group of people shouting and behaving aggressively", with no further action taken.