Stop Richmond Council flying "progress flag"

[C0rdelia4104]

https://www2.richmond.gov.uk/Account/ePetitionDetails.aspx?ID=195

Richmond Council flies the "progress flag" during pride month. I think this is quite wrong. They are meant to be following the Nolan principles of impartiality.

If you live in London Borough of Richmond please sign. Councils should not fly ideological flags

PLEASE SHARE so we can get to 500 signatures

I have no idea what the progress flag is can you explain ?

personally I think someone has said shit ! It’s pride quick get a flag up and someone has ordered a flag off Amazon and it’s the “Wrong one “ I understand there are a few now

you seem very het up about a flag , surely what’s best is they have something rainbowy flying ? I am gay and have no idea what this progress flag is so you are being quite niche about all this

You should be able to go on to your Local Authority website and search their address for Planning applications. There’s an advanced search where you can add flag as a keyword. If you can’t find

Good suggestion about FOI if the Planning Matter isn’t immediately the solution or takes time to pursue.

FOI needs to be a narrowly focussed question but not so narrow that accidentally misses the point. It also has a limit in how much time the authority is obliged to spend on the answer.

Id suggest you briefly/one sentence explain the differences between the Rainbow & Progress Flags. And that the Progress Flag requires Planning Permission (which you may/may not have found). You note that the Progress Flag was flown at x address on (at least) y date(s). Can they please provide correspondence (emails, minutes, reports etc) on who authorised the flying of this flag? And on what grounds?

You can go to WhatDoTheyKnow website and open an account then easily. Best buy about that route is that the question and answer are public & searchable. So really useful to others - our audit thread wouldn’t be possible if it were not for some other person running searches with public results we could pick up. Good luck op!

ETA the name you use to create your account is made public so you might make a slight modification when you register if you were worried about privacy

The Press also keep an eye on WhatDoTheyKnow and pick up scandals etc from there

If there are progress event activities being held within the building for a fixed duration, then it’s totally within the flag code and does not require planning permission.

Such as, you know, pride month activities that include progress.

I cannot see anything here that suggests that is the case:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/flying-flags-a-plain-english-guide/flying-flags-a-plain-english-guide

Try reading the guide again.

Particularly part (b), first bullet point.

Flying the Pride Rainbow flag is expressly permitted but not the "Progress" flag that adds pink & blue "trans" stripes.

• the Rainbow flag (6 horizontal equal stripes of red, orange, yellow, green, blue and violet).

I live in LBRuT and I have had an email saying next week's flag is the Refugee Week one as we are a Borough of Sanctuary. So I wouldn't bother with your petty petition as the flag will be replaced soon. No doubt you don't like this one either 😂

I am a local resident, and very GC, and I have no time for the progress flag.

But I won't sign the petition. Two reasons why.

Firstly, as a lesbian, I have had to watch my community being disemboweled by the gender nonsense. I'm keen to limit further damage and very aware that within GC circles it is now acceptable to attack the whole LGBTQ circus. But that also means attacking those of us within that grouping who have already suffered from it more than heterosexual women.

I'm not a fan of flying flags, but to campaign against rainbow flags? No, I'm not going there. The nuance may be clear to you, but to most borough residents it will just be read as taking that gay lot down a peg or two.

Secondly, I don't think this a good tactic at this time. Our big successes have been down to careful legal and policy work, and that should continue to be our focus. Now we have the Supreme Court ruling and Stonewall is crumbling, I'll bet that flag won't be flying over Richmond Council in a year or two. By campaigning against the flag, you are trying to force the council to overtly withdraw support from LGBTQ, and I don't think that's smart right now.

Let's focus on causes rather than symptoms. And please remember that lesbians have been collateral damage for too long already.

Got it - thanks.

(b) Flags which do not require consent provided they comply with certain restrictions

A number of categories of flag may be flown without consent, subject to certain restrictions regarding the size of the flag, the size of characters on the flag, and the number and location of the flags.

Categories of flag that can now be flown:

• house flag – flag is allowed to display the name, emblem, device or trademark of the company (or person) occupying the building, or can refer to a specific event of limited duration that is taking place in the building from which the flag is flown

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So any query to the Council should ask what specific events of limited duration are taking place in the building every day that the flag is flown.

"It's Pride Month" does not seem to be an adequate answer to that question.

Whereas, "There are events celebrating Pride every day during Pride Month in the building and the Council considers the Progress Flag to be the correct flag to fly to mark these events" would be a better answer.

However, such an answer would quite reasonably prompt follow-up questions such as:

1 who paid for the Flag?

2 please list the Title, Date, Time and Duration and precise Venue of each event?

3 please indicate whether attendance was expected for the entire duration of the event and/or if they were "drop in" events

4 who organised these events in the building, whether external to the Council or internal?

5 who in the Council approved these events, whether an individual officer, elected official or Committee?

6 were these events open to the public or only to attendance by Council employees and/or elected Officers?

7 how and where were these events advertised?

8 what if any criteria were used to determine who was eligible to attend each event and were these criteria advertised in advance?

8 were Council employees in attendance at these events and, if so, was their attendance completely voluntary?

9 did Council employees run these events and, if so, was their involvement completely voluntary?

10 were any events sponsored by external organisations and, if so, which organisations, how much money was contributed and what did those funds purchase or recompense?

11 were any external organisations paid to contribute in any way to these events and, if so, how much money was paid to each organisation for the provision of what services?

12 what was the total cost to the Council of these events, including:

• Council employees time prior due, during or after each event, eg. time spent preparing advertising materials; time attending events; time liaising with external organisations; Committee time discussing events, etc. (this list is not comprehensive)
• any fees waived for venue booking
• external advertising
• Council Social Media operatives advertising events, dealing with inquiries, etc.

13 please provide a list of comparable annual events on Council premises and whether a flag was flown to celebrate these events.

There are probably other questions but these are the first once that spring to mind.

Part (b). First bullet point.

Which has nothing to do with rainbow flags and everything to do house flags relating to events.

If there are progress events taking place in the building then can be flown.

If there were competitive hen grooming events being held, the hen grooming championships flag could be flown.