Ashfield man brands Reform's county-wide flags a 'vanity project' as FOI request reveals none are yet sponsored

The man, who asked to remain anonymous, said he had submitted a Freedom of Information (FOI) request to the council asking how may of the flags – which cost £75,000 to put up – had been sponsored, as Reform have said they will be.

The response revealed that, at the time of responding, the answer was none.

Coun Mick Barton (Ref), county council leader, told a Mansfied Council meeting in February that there had been ‘big interest from the business community’ in advertising on the union flag banners currently attached to lampposts across the county.

He also added at the time that many people had told him putting up the flags was ‘a lovely thing to do’.

Speaking at that meeting, he said: “These banners will be used for a multitude of purposes, including fostering kinship, adoption and caring programmes, Nottinghamshire Day, Remembrance Day and we also have a big interest from the business community wanting to hire the space.”

But in his FOI request, the Ashfield resident, asked how many businesses had sponsored flags and who they were; how much the total cost to the council had been for the installation, maintenance, and removal of the flags to date, what total income had been received from business sponsorships and how were businesses selected and were there any commitment statements made regarding whether the scheme would not cost taxpayers money?

In reply the council said on the request: “We have had a small number of enquiries from organisations expressing interest in sponsoring some of the banners.

"However, we have not yet enter into any sponsorship agreements, as we are doing our due diligence to make sure, we have the necessary approvals and planning permissions in place first.”

The Ashfield man said: “Clearly, this is a political vanity project and despite claims that these flags would be funded by business sponsorship, they’re clearly not and it appears from the reply I’ve had, they haven’t even got planning permission to put these flags up.

"The council says it’s ‘doing due dilligence to get the necessary approvals and planning permissions’ so obviously they’re seeking retrospective planning to even put the flags up in the first place.

"It jars against everything they’ve been saying and all residents want is well-funded good public services.

"The money (£75,000) could easily have gone towards child social care or sorting the diabolical state of the roads out – we’re not talking potholes, we’re talking craters, so many garages have had cars in with damage caused by the roads.

"I’ve even had a snapped spring on my own car caused by them.

"It just leaves a bad taste in the mouth, we just want good public services, not flags which, as my FOI response shows, have had no businesses to date pay for any single one of them.

“People just don’t want to be hoodwinked or duped, but that’s the reality of the situation.”

The council has been contacted for comment.