St George’s Day flag rules as England households warned of £2,500 fine

St George’s Day falls on Thursday, April 23, and households throughout England are being warned to comply with native council planning rules when flying the St George’s Cross or danger a £2,500 fine

The most patriotic day within the English calendar is right now with homeowners cautioned to not danger a fine for unwittingly breaking the rules on displaying the flag of St George.

St George’s Day falls right now (Thursday, April 23) however households may face a fine in the event that they fly an England flag in a method that contravenes native council planning rules, regardless of the nationwide event.

According to the rules, flags flown in violation can incur a £2,500 fine, adopted by a penalty of one tenth of that quantity every day following any conviction till the matter is resolved.

Click here to get the largest tales straight to your inbox in our Daily Newsletter

While it in all probability would not obtain as a lot consideration as St Patrick’s Day in Ireland, St David’s Day in Wales or St Andrew’s Day in Scotland, church providers are held yearly for St George’s Day, and occasions are usually staged in Trafalgar Square.

However, in case you’re planning on flying an England flag for the event, you need to be aware of native council planning legal guidelines, which may technically see you handed a £2,500 fine in case you breach them, studies the Express.

The Government says that lately it has relaxed the rules on flying flags, not simply the Union Jack, but additionally the flags of England, Wales, Ireland and any nationwide flag in any respect, as it needs to encourage extra flags to be flown normally.

The rules for flying a flag on a roof are fairly easy. The Government states that sure flags may be flown from rooftops of any dimension, offered they fulfill sure situations. England flags – as effectively as Scottish flags, Commonwealth nation flags, NHS and LGBT flags are all permitted to be flown from your private home. These may be any dimension if they’re flown from the roof, and can incur no fines as a consequence.

However, in case you’re flying the flag on a flagpole ‘projecting from any half of the constructing aside from the roof’, the flag can’t be bigger than two metres squared in dimension.

Permission is required in case you reside in a managed space, too, such as an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB).

Those who fail to adjust to the rules could possibly be reported and, in the end, fined as much as £2,500 for refusing to adjust to a request out of your native council to take away an outsized flag.

One approach to keep away from that is to fly the flagpole from the roof as a substitute. Under the regulation, flags on a vertical flagpole flown from the roof haven’t any most dimension, until you are in an AONB.

The Government states: “Two flags on the same flagpole projecting from any part of a building are permitted provided one of the flags is from category (a) (flags which do not need consent), such as a national flag, and that flag is flown in the superior position.

“Otherwise, just one flag on a projecting flagpole on a constructing is permitted. The flag might not exceed 2 sq. metres in dimension.”

The Government’s rules on flags say: “All flags should be:

• maintained in a situation that doesn’t impair the general visible look of the positioning
• stored in a secure situation
• have the permission of the proprietor of the positioning on which they’re displayed (this contains the Highway Authority if the signal is to be positioned on freeway land)
• not obscure, or hinder the interpretation of official highway, rail, waterway or plane indicators, or in any other case make hazardous the use of these sorts of transport
• be eliminated rigorously the place so required by the planning authority

The full record of flags that don’t require consent are:

• Any nation’s nationwide flag, civil ensign or civil air ensign
• The flag of the Commonwealth, the United Nations or another worldwide organisation of which the United Kingdom is a member
• A flag of any island, county, district, borough, burgh, parish, metropolis, city or village inside the United Kingdom
• The flag of the Black Country, East Anglia, Wessex, any half of Lincolnshire, any Riding of Yorkshire or any historic county inside the United Kingdom
• The flag of Saint David (Wales)
• The flag of Saint Patrick (Ireland)
• The flag of any administrative space inside any nation outdoors the United Kingdom
• Any flag of His Majesty’s forces
• The Armed Forces Day flag

However, in case you’re flying the flag from a pole extending from any half of a constructing aside from the roof, stricter rules apply. The Town and Country Planning Regulations 2007 stipulate that there are rules relating to the utmost dimension for flags displayed on your private home if it is on a pole, fairly than on the roof.

The Government states: “The flag may not exceed 2 square metres in size. No restrictions on the size of characters. Consent is required if the flagpole is in a controlled area.”

Those who fail to adjust to the rules could possibly be reported and, in the end, fined as much as £2,500 for refusing to stick to a request from their native council to take away an outsized flag.

The regulation states: “A person displaying an advertisement in contravention of these regulations shall be liable, on summary conviction of an offence under section 224(3) of the Act, to a fine of an amount not exceeding level 4 on the standard scale and, in the case of a continuing offence, one tenth of level 4 on the standard scale [£2,500] for each day during which the offence continues after conviction.”