North Tawton Town Council has agreed to postpone its discussion into a new flag flying policy, which follows conversations over whether the council should fly the Pride flag.

The town council was due to discuss the flag flying policy at the last full council meeting on June 6, but agreed to delay the discussion due to the absence of the proposer, Cllr Steve Whiteley, at the meeting. This draft policy follows the council’s decision earlier this year to fly the Pride rainbow flag which proved to be controversial and upset some North Tawton residents.

But, the council has not said that the proposed introduction of a flag flying policy is directly related to the controversy surrounding the flying of the Pride flag.

A council spokesperson explained the proposed policy: ‘The Town Council is not proposing to ban or restrict the flying of Gay Pride flags from the Town Council Office to one day only. Indeed, the Rainbow flags were flown for a week in February and will be flown for the whole of June i.e. more than five weeks this year. The Rainbow flag will also be flown in support of any local Pride event.

‘What we are proposing is a formal policy to ensure that we meet Planning Regulations and Government Guidance on the flying of flags on public buildings. The Department of Culture Media and Sport have issued guidance on the flags that should be flown and the designated days that apply. These include the Union Flag, Cross of St George, Armed Forces Flag and the Rainbow flag i.e. the Rainbow Flag is specifically included. The guidance extends to which flags should not be flown, including flags representing political parties or commercial advertising. The Town Council can also approve ‘Guest Flags’ for specific events - for example a flag was flown in March in support of Autism Awareness Week.

‘I should emphasise that this is currently a draft proposal, and a number of other examples of a policy will also be considered, which will be subject to debate, amendment if necessary and a democratic vote taken before it is adopted by the Council. We need a policy to enable the council to treat all requests equally, and with transparency.’

In January 2023 North Tawton Town Council approved the flying of the Pride and Pride Progressive Flags during the month of February and for Pride Month in June, but Cllr Christian Martin has argued that the new policy would, in effect, ban the flying of the Pride flag.

Though the proposed policy does not ban the flying of the rainbow flag, Cllr Martin has said that since there is currently no Pride event in North Tawton, this would mean the flag is never flown and could make the LGBTQ+ community in North Tawton feel unwelcome.

He said: ‘There was overwhelming support and positivity around the visibility of the Pride flags on the town office building in February. It is important that the whole community needs to see themselves represented.’