Published on Monday 15 September 2025
Councillor Millie Earl, Leader of BCP Council, said: "We know some of you may have questions around the appearance of flags on lamp posts, street furniture, traffic signals, roundabouts and crossings.
"Like all councils, we’re proud to fly various flags to mark civil occasions, sporting events or national celebrations and we follow the national government’s guidance for flag flying. We’re also proud of our diverse communities across our three towns and we do not support any behaviour that seeks to cause disharmony.
"We take our responsibility for maintaining safe roads and infrastructure very seriously. Attaching anything to public infrastructure, such as bridges and lamp posts without permission is likely to be unlawful and where something causes a safety risk we will remove it as a priority. This includes flags.
"Likewise, painting of flags on roads, roundabouts and crossings is unlawful and dangerous and we urge people not to do this. We will swiftly remove anything that risks distracting road users or affects the safety of our residents. We will take the same approach to tackling fly-posting and graffiti.
"This diverts our resource from other work that we do, so we ask people who wish to fly flags to do so from their own homes or garden.
"We encourage residents to report incidents to us so that we can respond appropriately."
To report any issues, please use the following links:
Report a problem with a street light | BCP