Eric Pickles Tells English Communities to Create and Fly Your Own Flags

Local communities across the country should create and fly their own flags to help them maintain their sense of civic pride, Conservative Minister Eric Pickles has suggested.

Mr Pickles, the Communities and Local Government Secretary, said villages, sports clubs and community groups should now design and fly their own flags after he relaxed planning rules.

Planning regulations which require express consent for flag flying will be scrapped in England from October 12. Currently, securing the permission costs as much as £335.  Rules on the number, size and siting of flags in all areas away from sensitive sites such as national parks or areas of outstanding natural beauty are also being relaxed.

Mr Pickles has welcomed a new guide launched by the Flag Institute which outlines how local groups can design and register a flag.  The Communities Secretary will this month display two flags, created by members of the public from the North and East Ridings of Yorkshire, outside his Westminster office.

He said that community flags show that people’s “sense of belonging can’t be wiped out by a bureaucrat’s pen stroke on a map”.

“As a proud Yorkshireman, I’m delighted to see my compatriots in the Ridings are renewing their sense of local pride with these newly designed flags.  These new designs are absolutely great.”

Mr Pickles added, “This proves that your sense of belonging can’t be wiped out by a bureaucrat’s pen stroke on a map.  The new guide from the Flag Institute, the UK’s national flag charity, will lead to many more local flags being designed and registered and I look forward to flying them on the streets of Whitehall.”

Current rules technically require express consent for any flag attached to buildings under planning regulations in the Town and Country Planning (Control of Advertisements) (England) Regulations 2007.  Express consent is obtained from local authorities but typically requires a fee to be paid. Separate rules apply in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland where the relaxation will not apply.

Last year the Union flag was flown permanently for the first time from Parliament.