Harrietsham Parish Council (HPC) has said it is unable to put up Christmas lights because there are flags attached to the lampposts. They say they can’t remove the flags as they don’t own them or the lampposts. They’ve asked whoever put them up to please take them down.
The Reform-led Kent County Council (KCC) it must remove flags, including St George’s flags, from lamp-posts if it wants to put up Christmas lights.
The council said KCC issued a permit for Christmas lights to be installed along the A20 in the village with a condition that any flags on lamp-posts were removed beforehand as they posed a safety risk. they now say that this means the Christmas lights may not be able to be installed this year and that it is still liable for the hire cost of the equipment.
Peter Osborne, KCC’s cabinet member for highways and transport, said “Flags on streetlight columns pose a risk during installation, so they must be removed to ensure the lights go up safely and can be enjoyed by everyone.”
The KCC councillor says the claim HPC would face “significant extra costs is simply wrong” and that “safety must come first”.
HPC said when the flags were first put up they were discussed with its contractor, which advised they could install the lights around the flags without issue. But this is no longer an option due to the condition from KCC, HPC says.
A spokesperson from HPC said ‘It is not within the contractor’s remit to remove flags as part of the installation process. As the flags and street columns are not council property, the parish council is not permitted to use public funds to pay for their removal’.
HPC is asking anyone who put up the flags to remove them to allow the festive lights to be installed. Brilliant.
What a typically British issue!!!
