Commercialism means planners turn down harbour welcome flags
PLANS to install flag poles at the harbour, displaying parish flags, have been abandoned, after planners refused permission to allow commercial flags to be flown alongside parish and nation flags.
The Floral Guernsey project would have seen parish and island flags installed on the walkway by the cargo area, and would have been the first thing visitors saw when they disembarked the ferry.
Some of the money for the project would have come from the three parishes and three islands that had agreed to back it. But the bulk would have come from ferry company Condor and, in exchange, the company flag would be flown from one of the poles.
Floral Guernsey council member Gerry Tattersall said the planners’ decision not to not any commercial flags scuppered the project.
‘There was no forewarning [about the condition] and it came as a bit of a shock,’ he said.
‘We worked very hard on the plans and we proceeded with them for three years before it fell flat. So we have given up. We don’t have the money and that’s the end of it.’
The planners had agreed to the installation of 12 flagpoles, each six metres high, on the St Julian’s Emplacement walkway.
However, in the conditions it stated that only parish and national flags could be flown. This was because the walkway is in the St Peter Port conservation area, so no advertising or motifs were allowed.
‘The site is situated in a prominent position in the conservation area and on similar flag poles throughout Guernsey – such as those displayed at St Julian’s Avenue Roundabout – flags are restricted to national and parish flags only, with the display of flags that portray any form of advertisement resisted,’ it was stated in the planning report.
‘This is to control the display of unnecessary advertisements that, if allowed, can lead to a sense of visual clutter, which negatively affects the visual character and appearance of the surrounding area.’
St Saviour’s St Andrew’s and Vale had all signed up to fly their flags there, as well as Sark, Alderney and Herm. They had all sent cheques for their contributions, which have now been returned.
It had also been proposed that the Floral Guernsey flag be flown and Guernsey Harbours house flag.
But both of these fell foul of the planners’ restrictions, as well as the Condor flag.
Condor CEO Paul Luxon said they had been working to try and improve the look of the harbour and had been happy to fund the flag poles as a way to contribute to the community.
‘It is clearly not for us to challenge a planning decision, but the positioning of poles with appropriate and splendid flags would have helped lift the area aesthetically for visitors and islanders travelling to and from the terminal area, which was the aim of all the parties involved,’ he said.
