The Reform leader of Nottinghamshire County Council has justified a planned spend of £75,000 in taxpayer cash to replace old brackets and put up 164 Union Flag banners.
A total of 164 Union Flag banners will be displayed in 82 locations across Rushcliffe, Broxtowe, Bassetlaw, Newark, Mansfield, Ashfield and Gedling.
The banners will be displayed at a cost of about £457 each – but council leader Cllr Mick Barton says the spend will also include replacing brackets, traffic management, and the use of cherry pickers.
He said it was a “long-term” investment, with future plans to put banners up in their place to celebrate Nottinghamshire Day, the Tour of Britain, and other events.
“We’ve done this from a safety point of view, because we had brackets up there anyway that were coming to the end of their life, they were put up like 10 to 15 years ago,” he said.
• Plans to install hundreds of national flags on street furniture across Nottinghamshire
“So we went out and tested all of them. All of them have got to come down. We’ve said while we are at it we are going to put some new ones up.
“The actual cost of the banners is a small cost. It is about £16,000. The brackets are £32,000. That is half of the £75,000.
“If I read [about the cost], if I weren’t in my job, I might think it was a lot of money. But there is a lot more involved than what is in the top-line figure.
“This is a long-term venture. They will last 10 to 15 years. They are multi-functional, it is not just about the Union Flag. Initially we are going to put the Union Flag in these brackets and it is going to go across the county.
“We shan’t just be leaving the Union Flag in there. Next year when it comes to Remembrance Day, we have budgeted for banners to be going in there. We are doing a big thing on fostering next year, foster family promotion work, we are going to be putting those banners in there. We’ve got lots of other celebration work.
“There is even a £10,000 in that budget to take them down at the end of life, which wasn’t put in by the previous administration that we have had to pick up now.”
Opposition groups have criticised the move.
Conservative county councillor Mike Adams said: “As Conservatives we love the Union Flag. I have one outside my house, but it should stay as donations.
“People have been doing this out of their own pockets. Why should a struggling family be contributing to this from their council tax?”
Nottinghamshire’s Labour group also argued Reform was “wasting our money”.
There will be no vote on the decision, but councillors have five days to object to the spend or suggest changes.