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Progress Pride flag plan gets council go-ahead

Getty Images The Time Square Offices of Bracknell Forest Council in Market Street, Bracknell, taken in May 2020. It has five floors, with four of them on the left and right side having orange bricks. But in the middle of the building, there is a glass-fronted centre, which has five panes of large glass across and is five storeys high. It has "Time Square, Bracknell Forest Council" written on a sign above the entrance, next to the the council's logo of a deerGetty Images
Bracknell Forest councillors approved the plan unanimously on Thursday

A council will fly the Progress Pride flag every June after councillors approved a plan.

Bracknell Forest Council's planning committee discussed the proposal to fly the flag outside its Time Square offices throughout Pride month after 15 residents formally objected.

The flag is a symbol of the LGBTQ+ community and its colours represent the different communities within it.

The committee backed the plan unanimously but an objector said flying it risked “alienating residents”.

Malcolm Tullett, who stood for Reform UK in Bracknell in July’s general election, told councillors on Thursday that the flag would “detract from the neutral civic character” of Time Square.

“Unlike the Union Flag, which represents unity, the fragmented symbolism of the Progress Pride flag suggests selective representation and weakens the inclusive appearance of civic spaces,” he added.

Getty Images A Progress Pride Flag is seen on Day Five of the cinch Championships at The Queen's Club on June 23, 2023 in London, EnglandGetty Images
A Progress Pride flag will be flown for all of June outside the council's offices

But Conservative councillor Tony Virgo said he supported the proposal.

“We are a community that wants to embrace all parts of that community. That’s exactly what Bracknell stands for,” he said.

“We are a wonderful country, we should celebrate that. And if there are bits of the community that have been forgotten in the past, let’s show them that we support them.”

This week, a Conservative-led council in Norfolk flew the Progress Pride flag after an MP said it should not be flown in civic areas.

Great Yarmouth Borough Council’s Conservative cabinet voted to fly the flag outside its Town Hall with cross-party support after Great Yarmouth’s Reform MP Rupert Lowe said it promoted “gender identity ideology” he opposed.

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