Falkirk Council remove national flags from lampposts 'for clear safety reasons'
Falkirk Council has come under fire after workers removed flags which had been tied to lampposts across the town over the weekend.
Saltires and Union flags had been attached to street lights in several locations around the town.
The appearance of the flags locally comes after national flags have been appearing in towns and cities across the country in recent weeks as part of a national campaign to promote pride in Britain.
A number of local councils in England have been taking down flags for reasons of, they say, health and safety, and it appears Falkirk Council is the latest local authority to follow suit.
Local council workers took steps to take down many of the flags around the Falkirk area on Saturday. Their actions were met with anger from some residents in the community.
People took to social media to express their frustration at the removal of the national flags.
However the council said some members of the public turned on its employees with intimidating behaviour as they attempted to carry out their work.
A Falkirk Council spokesperson said this week: “Over the weekend Falkirk Council acted immediately to remove flags that had been attached with no authorisation from its street lights.
"This was for clear safety reasons in line with national guidance regarding unauthorised attachments to street lights.
“In some instances Council employees suffered intimidating behaviour from people which prevented them completing this task. This is unacceptable and the council will liaise with Police Scotland to take action against those responsible.
“The council takes public safety extremely seriously. Unauthorised attachments to lighting columns present a clear and avoidable risk and will continue to be removed moving forward.”
The raising of the flags on lamp posts around Falkirk also comes at a time when public feeling is running high over the use of the former Cladhan Hotel by the Home Office to house asylum seekers.