Union Flag to Return to Sandhurst Park

Union Flag to return to Sandhurst Memorial Park after more than 20 years

A motion to permanently fly the Union Flag at Sandhurst Memorial Park was approved by Sandhurst Town Council's strategy & policy committee on Thursday, March 26, by four votes to three.

Independent councillor John Edwards proposed the move. While he sits as an Independent, he admitted to being a member of Reform UK at the last debate. Introducing the proposal he said: "All this motion would be doing is actually to bring Sandhurst Town Council into line with what's totally normal across the country across Europe, across the world. And actually, it's just to correct an oversight that many people in Sandhurst don't even notice that we don't permanently fly the national flag above our council officers, and also, more importantly, because we're in a town like Sandhurst and we have the Royal Military Academy (RMA) here."

He added: "It belongs to all of us. So whether you're rich or poor, landed gentry or commoner, conservative or Labour, Liberal Democrat or Reform or nothing, this flag belongs to you."

The Union Flag had been flown from the Memorial Park until Sandhurst first won a Green Flag award in 2003, when the Green Flag took its place. Conservative councillor Graham Birch said: "Up until 20 years ago, we used to fly the flag, the Union Jack. "We were the first town to win the Green Flag. "My understanding is there was never an intent for it to replace the Union Jack. "However, for one reason or another, it became the only flag up there."

Cllr Birch proposed an amendment to install a separate flagpole for the Green Flag; that would require relocating the Green Flag and obtaining planning permission. A council officer said a new flagpole would cost between £500 and £945.

Opponents argued the move could be divisive. Liberal Democrat councillor Ali Williams said: "We're living in a world of a lot of change at the moment, aren't we? In the UK and internationally. "It's quite a lot of money to some people that can't even afford to heat their homes or get food. Is it really when we look at it in the broader context, is it an appropriate thing to be doing right now?" She warned the flag could be misunderstood and said, "It could send unintentional messages." She also said flying the Union flag could be "inflammatory" and questioned whether spending on a pole was the right priority given council taxpayers' bills.

Conservative Cllr Hazel Hill said: "The feedback that I'd received from some people was that the flags that were around then on the lamp posts had actually caused distress to those of foreign descent." After the vote, Liberal Democrat Cllr Leigh Quigg said simply: "shame".

James Aldridge, Local Democracy Reporter