Chesterfield council will allow controversial new giant flag to stay after campaign ad removed
Chesterfield Borough Council has said it will take no further action to remove a giant Union Jack from a prominent town centre building, after a new version of the flag was installed without elements that breached planning rules.
As previously reported, on Friday, October 24, property developer James Holmes unfurled the giant flag on the face of the former North East Derbyshire District Council building on Saltergate, replacing one put up in September featuring web links to his ‘Fly the Flag’ campaign.
Those links meant Chesterfield Borough Council considered the display a large-format advert – requiring planning consent – rather than a simple flag, and so ordered Mr Holmes to remove it.
After the autumn weather made light work of the original, Mr Holmes commissioned an even larger replacement, without the offending web links but with added panels of Remembrance imagery.
Having received pushback from some quarters over the political direction of the campaign, Mr Holmes suspected he may meet further resistance from the council – but that now appears not to be forthcoming.
A spokesperson for Chesterfield Borough Council said: “It’s evident that Mr Holmes is keen to recognise our national period of Remembrance, which is something we also value highly as a council.
“We will soon be installing our much-loved cascade of red poppies down the front of the town hall, and the union flag will continue to fly proudly above the building – as it does every day of the year.
“People across Chesterfield borough are invited to come together and pay their respects in our annual Remembrance Day Service and Parade on Sunday, November 9.”
They added: “The large union flag which is currently displayed on the front of Mr Holmes’ building does not breach any planning laws, and therefore the council will not be taking any enforcement action in relation to this matter.
“We did contact Mr Holmes in relation to the previous union flags on the front, and on top of the building, as these advertised a commercial website and are therefore classed as unauthorised advertisements. We intend to take enforcement action if the remaining unauthorised advertisement is not removed.”