Labour-run council’s flag crackdown sees Remembrance Day poppy display axed

People in Hoyland, South Yorkshire, will no longer be able to honour war heroes with wooden poppies on lampposts.

It comes after Barnsley Council banned hanging things from posts with road signage.

For the last three years, 396 poppies have been displayed in Hoyland to commemorate soldiers who gave their lives in the First and Second World Wars.

A large wooden poppy for each soldier was placed on lamp-posts in the town along the one-mile Remembrance Day parade route.

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However council officials have now told organisers they they can no longer attach the poppies to posts that also have road signs attached to them.

Organisers say this makes putting up the poppy display ‘impractical’ because most of the town’s lampposts carry signage and therefor they would not be able to use them.

It comes as a result of updated guidance surrounding the Highways Act 1980 after a spate of flag-flying incidents in the town.

Robert Hill, of the Hoyland Remembrance and Parade Group, said: “I am genuinely disheartened that we will not be putting up the wooden poppies on lamp-posts and road signage posts lining the Parade Route.

A council spokesman said: “The council’s first duty is to the health, safety and welfare of all highway users.

“The recent increase in unlicensed attachments to street lighting columns has prompted a review of our current processes and controls regarding any and all attachments to the council’s network of lighting infrastructure.”

“We fully support the respectful display on lighting columns as a mark of remembrance across the borough.”

Under the new guidance, all community groups wishing to install items on lamp-posts or road furniture must apply in advance and demonstrate they meet safety and liability requirements.

The HRPG said they would look to work with the council over the next 12 months to find a solution for the future.