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Take down your flags, ex-BNP candidate told

1:30pm Wednesday 11th February 2009 in


A 70-year-old man who has been told to remove a flagpole from outside his sheltered accommodation home is trying to win the right to continue flying fly his flags.

A row broke out last week when 70-year-old Patrick Sullivan put the 20ft flagpole outside his bungalow in Highwoods Square, Colchester.

Within days he was asked by Colchester Borough Homes, which owns the building, to take it down, following complaints from other residents.

Mr Sullivan said he wanted fly the Union Flag because he is very “patriotic”.

Independent ward councillor, Beverley Oxford, who received the complaints, said the council had no authority to ask Mr Sullivan to take it down because he was breaking no planning laws.

Mr Sullivan unsucessfully stood for the BNP in last year’s council elections.

Gordon Steed, tenancy services manager, said: “We asked Mr Sullivan to take his flagpole down, because he put it up without asking us for permission.

“All tenants need to have written permission from us before making alterations to their homes, irrespective of whether they need planning permission or not for those changes.

“The decision to ask him to take down the flagpole was purely made on this basis. It was not taken because of the views held by the tenant.

“We are investigating the complaints which have been made about the flags. Our tenancy conditions say people should not cause nuisance or annoyance to their neighbours.

“We will examine whether or not it is happening in this case, and take appropriate action.

“Our goal is to make sure people feel happy and safe in their homes.

“We respect the fact that many people are patriotic, and do not discriminate against them because of this.”

Mr Sullivan said he would write and ask for permission, but he is also planning to launch a petition in the area to find out what people really think of the flagpole.

Comments(14)

Gideon Smythe says...
1:39pm Wed 11 Feb 09

No need for a petition Mr Sullivan, it looks hideous.

However, if you enjoy collecting flags I've got some brand new ones from a selection of countries around the world.

Interested? No, I thought not.

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Nobnee says...
1:54pm Wed 11 Feb 09

Mr Sullivan has every right to parade our flag, yet again the liberal left come up trumps.
Mr Sullivan I hope you stand strong and do not cave in to the crazy control freaks we have controlling our parishes, boroughs, district counties and our country, it surly must be time for change!

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St Edmund says...
2:22pm Wed 11 Feb 09

Have pride in our flag.

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MerylthePeril says...
2:31pm Wed 11 Feb 09

Having pride in a flag is fine, but erecting a 20 foot flagpole without permission is not. Just hang the flag in your window.

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guyfawkes999 says...
2:54pm Wed 11 Feb 09

This is a very interesting story.

Colchester Borough Homes and Colchester Borough Council appear to have acted with unusual and uncharacteristic speed.

Yet when people complain to Colchester Borough Homes about real anti social behaviour such as anti-social neigbours who are making noise, harrassing people, drug dealing etc., - the usual response from Colchester Borough Homes is to ask the people suffering the abuse to fill out diary sheets. In many cases people have been filling out diary sheets for months or even years and Colchester Borough Homes never do anything about it.

I am sure that many people reading this story will now be inspired to post new complaints to Colchester Borough Homes about their anti-social neighbours in the hope that Colchester Borough Homes will extend this new super fast tenancy enforcement service against drug dealers and other anti-social neighbours.

As I said at the beginning of my post the speed of Colchester Borough Homes in dealing with this matter is truly awe inspiring.

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Feisty CBC says...
3:38pm Wed 11 Feb 09

Totally agreee with you guyfawkes. The proliferation of numbers and contact details you are given to report anti-social behaviour to CBH is mind boggling.
The only way anything seems to get done is if you have your mugshot in the Gazette.

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Gerry Atric says...
4:39pm Wed 11 Feb 09

Its a funny old world these days.

A persons flag of country was once held in high esteem, the americas salute theirs every day, then,
well then came along the loonie do gooders, the loonies told us not to place our flags as to be seen by other non english residents.
Oh dear, what an uproar that caused.
Then the loonies realised that they were losing favor, so the loonies then said its ok to fly your flag, but only IF you dont offend anyone who`s flag IS different from my flag.
I was told to be proud of my country, one that my father fought for, like his father before him fought for, and so on.

Dont ANYONE tell me not to be proud of either my flag or my country, but, and its a bit but,
please fly your flag with pride, but,
fly it in such a manner as to not make a mockery of it, by being foolish, by flying more flags then a ship in distress.
Be proud, but dont be foolish.

One flag, one country.

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Cliff says...
5:02pm Wed 11 Feb 09

How many flags do you need to be proud of it - ONE, not a whole bloody collection. He's taking the **** as is the Gazette. That's twice this story has been in in different guises all because this silly old bloke wants lots of publicity for his election campaign. Let's have some real news.

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Gideon Smythe says...
5:14pm Wed 11 Feb 09

This is two sides of an arguement making a point. There is no doubt that the array of flags put up by Mr Sullivan is ugly. One or two would be a nice gesture and would no doubt brighten up the street. But I would suggest that he have thrown a gauntlet down to the council.

Likewise, the council have clearly fast-tracked this one through their usually hopelessly slow system. And I would tend to agree that most anti-social behaviour doesn't get the swift action it should.

So, in summary, I think Mr Sullivan has acted deliberately and should stop all this faux surprise when the council objects. It smacks of free electioneering for the BNP.

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Gerry Atric says...
12:11am Thu 12 Feb 09

One flag,

one country.

Be proud,

whatever your political leanings.

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Boris says...
12:27am Thu 12 Feb 09

As Cliff and Gideon have said, Mr. Sullivan is indulging in a pre-election publicity stunt. The Gazette is truly scraping the barrel by making a story out of this nonsense.
It is annoying to see the BNP trying to claim the Union Jack as "their" flag, when in fact it is everyone's.

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Joe Public™ says...
7:33am Thu 12 Feb 09

being a "nationalist" & being a "patriot" are NOT the same thing.

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Wat Tyler says...
2:23pm Thu 12 Feb 09

It would seem that this ‘patriot’ is rather ignorant when it comes to his country’s flags. The White Ensign should only be flown on land at naval establishments, and civilian establishments which have been granted permission by the admiralty, such as the Cenotaph and the church of St.Martins in the Fields.

This man is showing disrespect to a British institution (the Royal Navy), by inappropriate use of a flag, typical BNP supporter then!

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Gideon Smythe says...
5:01pm Fri 13 Feb 09

Nice spot there Wat.

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