COUNCILLORS have said there is nothing wrong with people flying the Union flag and St George’s Cross from their own homes and gardens – but please stop hanging them from lampposts in a “haphazard” fashion.

Members of Wellington Town Council’s community committee discussed on Monday (September 15) the ongoing situation which has seen an ever-growing number of flags being hitched up on lampposts in the area.

Many people have welcomed the display of flags as celebrating national pride, but others have said they have links to far right groups nationally.

Councillors said that although they had nothing against people showing their support of the country by flying the flag – they added that the current situation was beginning to make the town look untidy.

The council’s chief executive, Dave Farrow, had compiled a draft report setting out the authority’s stance on the flags.

“We have been taking lots of calls in the office about the flags from people on both sides of the argument and they keep asking us as to what is the town council’s view,” he said.

His draft report suggests the council supports those who want to fly flags from their “homes, businesses or other personal property”, but not from “streetlights or on road markings.” The report said that defacing road markings in any form was an offence under the Highways Act 1980.

Cllr Mark Lithgow said: “I couldn’t believe what I was seeing with people putting a ladder on the back of a vehicle and clambering up lampposts to tie the flags on. A total lack of health and safety!

“I see there’s lots of flags on lampposts down by Lidl which is on the main road in and out of Wellington.”

“I think we should take them down and if we want to talk about flags and patriotism we should have that discussion,” Cllr Justin Cole said. “People shouldn’t be going around putting up flags – full-stop.”

Committee chairman, Cllr Andrew Govier, said: “If the flags were put up to commemorate VJ Day or something like that we’d have done it properly. My concern is the motives of the people who’ve put the flags up.”

Cllr Govier added he felt the council might get a “backlash from the public” if they took the flags down and be accused of not being patriotic.

“People can put their flags up in their own gardens, but they’ve been put up around the town in a rather haphazard nature,” he said. “We are stuck between a rock and a hard place on this. Whatever we do we are likely to be pictured as the villains.”

Councillors agreed that the matter should be discussed further at full council.