Flags to be 'gradually' removed by council

Flags put up without permission will "gradually disappear" from a city's streets, a council has said.

A petition, calling for them to be taken down, was discussed by Bristol City Council on Friday after it gained more than 1,600 signatures.

The council had previously allowed most flags put up on lampposts to stay in place following the nationwide social media movement Operation Raise the Colours.

But at the meeting councillor Stephen Williams confirmed they will be taken down, as they deteriorate to avoid the city looking "unsightly", as well as where residents report them causing distress outside homes and places of worship.

Williams, chair of the public health and communities policy committee, added they would be removed from public property such as lampposts and in sensitive locations such as near schools.

Groups responsible for putting up flags told the BBC they are motivated by pride and patriotism, but the petition stated they made people "feel unwelcome in their own neighbourhoods".

During the summer, Bristol council leader Tony Dyer said they would only be taken down if there were safety concerns, arguing it was time to "reclaim our flag" from those who had "hijacked" it for racist purposes and "reclaim the fact the flag represents all of us in England".

But at the City Hall meeting on Friday Williams said: "The administration has discussed the situation many times and our position is an evolving one.

"It's a dynamic situation. People should not be putting flags on public property, whether it's lampposts or railings or roundabouts."

He also explained the council had considered the safety of staff removing flags, as this had led to conflict in other parts of the country, with police or security staff to potentially flank workers where necessary.

The petition argued the flags "fuel tensions and divisions in our diverse city".

Cian Rance, who set up the petition, said: "It makes people in communities across Bristol feel intimated, scared and unwelcome in their own neighbourhoods."

He told the meeting he had been "threatened" outside his home and saw his neighbour get "pushed to the floor by an angry man" when they tried to remove a flags from their street.

Nobody in favour of flags came to City Hall to speak, but some people submitted written statements ahead of the meeting, explaining why they wished the flags to stay flying. They denied the English or British flag were racist symbols.

Williams, the public health committee chair, added "quite a lot" of flags have already been taken down.

"As these flags deteriorate, we will take them down, because we don't want our city to look unsightly.

"Over a pretty short period of time, I think these flags will gradually disappear from our streets.

"But what we don't want to do is engineer a confrontation with people who respond by immediately putting them back up again."

Follow BBC Bristol on Facebook, X and Instagram. Send your story ideas to us on email or via WhatsApp on 0800 313 4630.