The council will not spend taxpayer money removing flags unless they are unsafe.
Nearly one year after Operation Raise the Colours activism began, Buckinghamshire Council leader Steven Broadbent has reasserted his position on the campaign.
The movement emerged in August 2025 and has involved groups tying Union Flags and St George’s Cross flags to streetlights and painting red crosses resembling the St George’s Cross on roundabouts.
Cllr Broadbent has now reiterated that he is ” very proud of our flags”.
He said: “We’ve got statements out before saying, people have the right to fly a flag at home.
“I question the use of public infrastructure, but what we have not done is spent tens of thousands of pounds of taxpayers’ money taking them down.
“The only time we will step in is if it’s demonstrably unsafe, if something has been put somewhere that would obscure things.
“We have not gone round and copied in any way what Oxfordshire’s doing. But we are diametrically different to what Oxfordshire did.”
More recently, High Wycombe has been decorated with St George’s Cross flags on homes and lampposts in support of England’s World Cup campaign.
Speaking about Oxfordshire County Council’s High Court injunction, Cllr Broadbent said: “I think that is an overreaction and an unnecessary cost to the taxpayer.”
Oxfordshire was awarded the injunction to prevent the continued unauthorised placement of flags on or near the public highway.
The application the authority said was aimed to stop repeated interference with the highway and the council’s legal duties as highway authority. It relates to a series of incidents involving named individuals associated with the organisation known as Raise the Colours.
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