Croydon (Parliament Politics Magazine) – Croydon Council has refused calls to remove England flags displayed along Coulsdon Road, saying they pose no issue and can remain in place.
Last week, Jason Perry, the unsuccessful mayor of Croydon, boasted on television about having “zero tolerance” for fly-tippers.
However, hundreds of St George cross flags that have been unlawfully attached to lampposts along Coulsdon Road, across Coulsdon Common, past The Fox bar, and all the way into Caterham and Surrey have been left in place by his council.
Fly-posting is what the flags along Coulsdon Road are, primarily at half-staff, which is considered bad form until someone significant has passed away. If found guilty in court, fly-posting can result in fines of up to £2,500.
Despite the fact that it is widely known that the deployment of these flags is a part of a coordinated hate campaign against minority communities, Croydon Council has not taken any action to get them taken down.
At the behest of seasoned and radical far-right activists, Farage flag-shaggers and tragic roundabout painters have emerged from their caves.
Stephen Yaxley Lennon, the serial killer who goes by Tommy Robinson, had a longtime friend named Andrew Currien, better known as Andy Saxon, who is a co-founder of “Operation Raise the Colours.”
Currien, who currently oversees security for the far-right Britain First party, was once a member of the English Defence League’s “bodyguard team.”
Currien has a lengthy criminal history. In 2009, he was one of six men found guilty of a racially motivated attack in which a 59-year-old man was crushed to death by a car after a violent altercation.
“Across the country, many of the small groups that have come together to raise the flags are being organised by well-known far-right extremists,” Hope Not Hate is reporting.
“Britain First claims to have provided many of the flags in the North West. ‘Britain First has, so far, donated 75% of its flag stock to local teams in Manchester and the West Midlands for “Operation Raise The Colours”,’ tweeted [Britain First] leader Paul Golding.”
Raising the Union flag or St. George’s cross is perfectly acceptable as long as the customary courtesy of obtaining the owner’s prior consent is followed. Being pleased to be British or English has never been against the law, despite allegations to the contrary that are intentionally offensive.
Furthermore, not all of the people who have voiced their opinions in recent weeks will be far-right.
When the clean-air zone was expanded to outer London two years ago, Tory Mayor Perry created a Facebook page that praised, celebrated, and incited people to vandalize and destroy ULEZ cameras and equipment. This brings us to the topic of the rights and wrongs of abusing public infrastructure.
“There’s not just one or two… There’s hundreds of the things,” according to a concerned reader.
The complainant was instructed to utilize the council’s CrapApp with Croydon. The CrapApp’s lack of a fly-posting (or flag-shagging, for that matter) category is the only issue. There is a fly-posting category for reports on FixMyStreet, the free alternative app operated by mySociety.
According to Croydon Council’s answer, the following are typical justifications for complaints being closed in this manner:
- This is a duplicate report that is being handled independently since this issue was recently reported at this location.
- It is on private property that they are unable to access, thus it is outside the council’s purview.
- Occasionally, users submit the report in error, choosing the incorrect category or address, for instance.
The concerned resident said: “None of those excuses hold good: the flags are on the public highway, within Croydon Council’s area, and can be seen quite clearly all along the road, as reported. If someone else has reported it, then why haven’t the flags been removed?
I suppose the council’s fall-back, as ever, is to blame its own residents for not submitting the report correctly, and using that as an excuse for not doing anything.”
They made another attempt, this time with Surrey and Tandridge in addition to Croydon. They received a response from a person named “Lauren,” who clarified that she works for the IT company that supplies the app software rather than any of the councils.
Why has the council declined to remove the flags despite bylaws on fly-posting?
The council appears to prioritize tackling what it considers “real issues” such as actual fly-tipping and keeping streets clean rather than removing national flags, even when these flags are tethered illegally to public lamp posts.
This parallels statements from other councils such as Harlow and York, which have expressed reluctance to remove Union or England flags unless there are clear safety hazards involved.
Complaints submitted through council reporting apps have been dismissed with reasons such as duplicate reports, inability to locate the issue, or jurisdictional confusion. Despite clear evidence that the flags are on public highways within Croydon council’s area, complaints have been marked as not requiring action or closed without removal.