Burnley MP Oliver Ryan calls on Lancashire County Council to remove flags which have become grotty
Burnley MP Oliver Ryan has said he believes flags which have been placed around the town in recent months that have now become “tatty” should be pulled down.
The town’s MP, who has a Union Flag on his office in Burnley, said many of the flags which were placed on lamp-posts across the borough in August have now become grotty and not welcoming to visitors, and has called on Lancashire County Council to remove them.
He said: “If you're reading this preparing to be outraged, I'm sorry to disappoint you when I say that I'm as patriotic as the next person, I've had a Union Flag on my office since I was elected, but lets be honest, the flags on the lamp posts look really grotty, its time for them to go.
“It is not patriotic to have tatty, scruffy flags up on every lamp post, barely waving, looking shabby and almost post-apocalyptic. It’s not welcoming to visitors, and lets be honest, it looks silly now.
“From Padiham to Brierfield, Gannow to Queensgate, Hapton to Cliviger, they look a tip. It's time for Lancashire County Council to get the cherry pickers out and remove them from Burnley, Padiham and Brierfield.
“As I've driven round these last few months, I've seen something which started off fine become a scruffy, tatty mess on every lamp post – half hanging off, stuck in bushes, stuck in grids and railings, or just plainly littering perfectly nice areas. In addition, I've been contacted by countless constituents, with flags outside or near their properties, who feel they've become an eyesore.
“I always like to give people the benefit of the doubt, putting up a flag for some over the summer was a moment of sincere patriotic feeling I'm sure. But for others, a minority, let's face it, it was an attempt to scare people, assert a kind of dominance over their neighbours, and fight an imaginary battle against those ‘who don't like our flag’, though I'm yet to meet any of those people.
“I'm not going into all that, I'm saying as the MP, but more as a council tax payer, what I believe most people thing – they look a tip, time to come down!
“Lancashire County Council, and our absent local Reform county councillors, seem all to be well up for the area looking a mess, but I'm not. I wouldn't be doing my job if I didn't represent the majority view of residents in Burnley, Padiham and Brierfield and so that's what I'm doing today calling on LCC to get them all down.”
Speaking in August, when the flags first appeared, Lancashire County Council leader Stephen Atkinson said his administration supported the flags, but also stressed it was important that people used their common sense when placing flags in terms of their own and others’ safety when draping anything at height.
A Bristol man, 60-year-old Paul Lumber, suffered fatal injuries after falling from a ladder while putting up Union Jack and St George's flags on lamp posts near his home in November.