Council removes dozens of 'tatty' lamppost flags

Leicestershire County Council has removed dozens of Union and St George flags from lampposts because they were unsafe or in a "very poor condition".

Highways officials told the BBC they had taken down 159 flags across the county in the year since people started attaching them to street lights as part of the Operation Raise the Colours movement in the summer of 2025.

The authority said it asked people not to put flags on street furniture "for safety reasons".

Labour MP for Loughborough Jeevun Sandher, who previously urged the Reform UK-led council to remove flags, said he did not want to see them "hanging tattily" from lampposts.

Sandher told the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) he had renewed his call for flags in a poor condition to be removed.

The MP said flags should be flown "proudly" from flag poles and not cable-tied to lampposts.

He added that some of his constituents found the flags "unwelcoming" because they made them feel "uncomfortable in their own community".

The flag movement gathered pace on social media last summer.

Those behind it said they were motivated by pride and patriotism, but others have expressed discomfort due to tensions running high across England over immigration and the St George cross often being used to promote far-right groups.

A county council spokesperson said: "We will take down flags when they are unsafe or in very poor condition.

"We do ask people not to attach anything to lampposts or any other road equipment for safety reasons."

Sandher said: "I'm proud of our flag that should unite each and every one of us. That's why I don't want to see them tattily hanging from lampposts - in a way that divides us.

"Our flag should be flying proudly from flagpoles, uniting each and every one of us.

"I asked the Reform county council to take them down last year."

The authority has taken down flags in different areas of the county.

A spokesperson told the LDRS it had also recently identified flags in Whitwick, near Coalville, which it would take down.

Joseph Boam, Reform UK county councillor for Whitwick, said he felt the flags were "patriotic" but said they should be replaced "with fresh ones" instead of being removed entirely.

He said: "I agree with the majority that they need dealing with.

"I think they are a great thing and it's important to show pride in our country.

"I'm very much in favour of them but not in favour of the ones that are ripped apart and look a mess."

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