Flags attached to lamp-posts and other street furniture won’t be removed by Essex County Council (ECC) unless they pose a danger to road users.

In the last couple of weeks, national and other flags have been attached to lamp-posts on Church Road, resulting in complaints to Brightlingsea Town Council (BTC) and much comment – for and against – on local social media.

But at the last full meeting of Brightlingsea Town Council (on September 18), the town’s county councillor, Alan Goggin, reported that ECC – which is the traffic authority for the county – would only be removing flags that cause a hazard by covering, for example, speed limit or give way signs.

“If ECC deems something to be a hazard – so you can’t see the proper signs – it has the right to remove them,” he said, but the vast majority of the flags are not in the way, they’re not a hazard.”

He added: “As county council we are not going to take flags down that aren’t in anybody’s way.”