{"id":498494,"date":"2026-02-25T12:06:11","date_gmt":"2026-02-25T12:06:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/498494\/"},"modified":"2026-02-25T12:06:11","modified_gmt":"2026-02-25T12:06:11","slug":"1000-flags-removed-from-surrey-lampposts-east-surrey-news-leatherhead-living","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/498494\/","title":{"rendered":"1000 flags removed from Surrey lampposts \u2013 East Surrey News \u2013 Leatherhead Living"},"content":{"rendered":"

Question and answer at Surrey County Council meeting 24 February <\/p>\n

Members\u2019 Questions:<\/p>\n

Question (1) Cllr Jonathan Essex Green Party Redhill<\/p>\n

Question: Removal of Flags on Surrey County Council Street lighting<\/p>\n

At the February 2026 council meeting the Leader was asked a question by Cllr Eber Kington of Ewell about councillors being able to intervene on operational issues, referencing a trip where you say long grass growing in a highway verge provided evidence that it is possible for Surrey County Council\u2019s Cabinet to intervene in response to<\/p>\n

operational issues.<\/p>\n

In the October 2025 Surrey County Council meeting Cllr Catherine Baart asked a question about the flags on streetlight columns around Horley and other areas in Surrey. She referenced Section 178 of the Highways Act 1980 which states that permission must be sought in advance from the local Highways authority for any attachments to be made to streetlights and the Surrey County Council website which states: \u201cTemporary attachments, for example\u2026flags tied on\u2026will be removed immediately from site and destroyed.\u201d Cllr Baart also asked the Cabinet Member whether he agreed that the Council\u2019s inaction on removing flags illegally attached to street lighting encouraged those using the threat of violence to get what they want, undermining community cohesion. In response the Cabinet member confirmed that<\/p>\n

to avoid an escalation of local hostility Surrey County Council\u2019s contractor was instructed not to immediately remove flags, and that the wholesale removal of flags would be extremely challenging \u2013 if not impossible \u2013 due to the strength of local feeling. So, the approach adopted has been to prioritise the immediate removal of flags deemed to pose a safety risk, with remaining flags to be dealt with as part of routine maintenance. And that this strategy was considered and agreed upon by senior officers and Cabinet Members. Following this, in December 2025, the Cabinet Member for Highways and Transport confirmed in reply to a public question that, \u201cSurrey County Council, as the Highway Authority, has the right to remove any item from the highway that has not been lawfully installed\u201d and that \u201cthe erection of<\/p>\n

flags or similar items on public street furniture without a licence is not lawful\u201d. He<\/p>\n

also confirmed that flags \u201cwill be removed as part of routine maintenance or inspection works.\u201d<\/p>\n

Now it is clear, at least in Horley that rather than having been removed, flags are<\/p>\n

increasingly in tatters, untidy yet remaining in place. They have not been removed<\/p>\n

as part of routine maintenance or inspection works as was the stated policy above.<\/p>\n

It is clear that Surrey County Council\u2019s current policy is not working. Instead, the continued presence of these flags, and failure to remove them from the public highway, implies consent and gives tacit legitimacy to their intimidating presence.while Surrey County Council states its ambition to be a county where no-one is left<\/p>\n

behind.<\/p>\n

In light of the above, please will you Leader, now intervene. just as you noted you had done with regard to the length of grass. Please now address the length of time that flags persist illegally on street lights in Surrey, contrary to our stated policies.<\/p>\n

The current state of affairs is creating a new normal where such misuse of public<\/p>\n

assets appears to be condoned.<\/p>\n

Reply:<\/p>\n

The attachment of flags to highway infrastructure continues to present an ongoing challenge, not only in Surrey but across the country. Although media coverage has somewhat reduced, installations are still occurring. Between 1 December 2025 and 16 February 2026, we are aware of over 300 flags having been installed in Surrey.<\/p>\n

Surrey\u2019s approach remains unchanged and is set out on our website https:\/\/www.surreycc.gov.uk\/roads-and-transport\/roadworks-and-maintenance\/street-lights-and-signs\/street-lights\/attaching-items<\/a><\/p>\n

Our contractor prioritises and removes any flags that present an immediate safety risk. All other flags are addressed as part of routine highway maintenance activities.<\/p>\n

To date, we have removed 1,003 flags from the network, and we estimate that approximately 308 remain. These figures are based on the best information currently available to us and reflect the installations of which we are aware.<\/p>\n

Cllr Tim Oliver OBE<\/p>\n

Conservative \u2013 Weybridge<\/p>\n

Leader of the Council <\/p>\n

20 February <\/p>\n

22 February <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Question and answer at Surrey County Council meeting 24 February Members\u2019 Questions: Question (1) Cllr Jonathan Essex Green…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":498495,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194299],"tags":[49,48,87674],"class_list":["post-498494","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-surrey","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-surrey"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/498494","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=498494"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/498494\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/498495"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=498494"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=498494"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=498494"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}