Flag-fliers pledge to remove them from lampposts

A group that hung England and British flags from lampposts in Shrewsbury has offered to take them down for free, to save the local authority money.

It comes after Shropshire Council announced last week it would remove any flags attached to its property, and would look to recover costs from those who put them up.

The last time it removed flags it said it cost about £13,000, but now Raise the Flags Shrewsbury Plus has said it would step in to do the work, to save taxpayers' cash.

Shropshire Council, which said its latest flag-removal operation was because of safety concerns and not a move against expressions of patriotism, has been approached for a response.

The people who put the flags up said they were doing it as a symbol of national pride and protest against the government.

But local residents were critical and said the flags were intimidating and provocative and intended to caused division.

The local Lower the Flags group, which has called for the flags' removal, has been cutting some down itself.

On Friday, Shropshire Council stressed it was not seeking to quell patriotism and recognised that the union jack as a "recognised national emblem", but putting up flags on public highways without permission could be considered a criminal offence.

The council is currently attempting to cut its expenditure and increased council tax by 9% at the start of the month to help balance its budget.

In a statement on its Facebook page, Raise the Flags Shrewsbury Plus said it did not want taxpayers to have to fork out for the cost of removing them for a second time.

It has asked the council to provide them with a list of all the locations where the flags should be taken down.

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