03/11/11….Flag consultation ‘will not be a vote’ says council

FOLLOWING a row among town councillors about which flag should be flown from the second pole on Thame town hall, the council has announced that its promised consultation will not be binding on the council’s decision.

At a meeting of the council’s Policy and Resources committee, a draft survey sheet to be made available to local people to have their say about which flag should be flown as a default alongside the Union flag, was rejected.

Apart from grammatical errors, including the question: “What flag should be flown outside the Town Hall?” the sheet included boxes urging people to enter a tick and “cast your vote.” But the Chair of the committee, Cllr Mike Dyer, said that the survey was not to be a referendum but that its results would be taken into consideration by the Working Group to be formed to come up with a policy.

The options so far are; the flag of St George, the flag of the European Union or a town flag. But councillors at the meeting wanted other options to be considered including a third flag pole and no flag poles at all!

At a previous meeting the council had agreed that the second flag pole should be used for special occasions and to honour official visitors to the town so, for example, flying the Armed Forces flag on Armed Forces Day, or the French flag when we have visitors from our twin town of Montesson.

A series of acrimonious letters in the local press from councillors was mentioned by Cllr Peter Lambert, who said that the row was embarrassing and that it was regrettable that so much time had been spent discussing the issue and that “the bunch of adults around this table seem unable to agree which flags should be flown from the town hall!”