Nation.Cymru gets Welsh flag restored to council offices

Martin Shipton

Patriotic men and women were crestfallen when Wales’ national flag disappeared from a council building and wondered whether it was a deliberate snub to Welsh nationhood.

Mihangel ap-Williams, a former director of the pro-independence group Yes Cymru, contacted Nation.Cymru to tell us that Y Ddraig Goch was not in evidence at the offices of Blaenau Gwent County Borough Council in Ebbw Vale.

Instead a couple of bedraggled Union Flags were on display, together with an equally bedraggled specimen that wasn’t easy to identify but turned out to be the council’s own flag.

We promised to investigate and reported the matter to Blaenau Gwent council, seeking an explanation.

After our call the council swung into action and the Welsh flag was put on display again.

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Flag protocol 

A spokesperson for the authority said: “We have a flag protocol in place that follows national guidelines and sets out which flags we fly outside our civic offices. As per the current protocol, the flags that normally fly are the Blaenau Gwent County Borough flag, the Welsh flag and the Ukrainian flag. This can change for a given period due to national guidance, and last week the Welsh flag was replaced with the Union flag to mark the second anniversary of the Ascension to the Throne of King Charles III.

“In line with our guidance, the Welsh flag should have been flying from September 9 but, unfortunately, there was a short period where the change was not made. This has now been rectified and the Welsh flag flies proudly again!”

It’s not the first time recently that there’s been concern over a missing Welsh flag.

Monmouthshire

Earlier this year a retired teacher claimed victory after Y Ddraig Goch was raised at one of Monmouthshire’s most prominent public buildings and the Union Flag lowered.

Peter Williams had been in dispute with the Shire Hall in Monmouth since June 2023 after spotting the red, white and blue and combined crosses of the Union Flag fluttering above it with the Welsh flag nowhere to be seen.

But the former deputy head teacher was further enraged on March 1 this year when he realised the council-owned building, run as a museum, wasn’t even following what it had told him was its policy of flying Y Ddraig Goch on St David’s Day.

“It is a disgrace no Welsh flag was flown on St David’s Day,” Mr Williams told the Local Democracy Reporting Service, adding that the excuse given for the failure to fly the national flag with the red dragon against a green and white background on the patron saint’s day was due to a hail storm and a weak flag pole.

During his dispute with the attraction, run by Monmouthshire County Council’s Mon Life leisure service, Mr Williams uncovered that it had been following guidance on flag flying issued by the UK Government that only applied to England.

The Welsh flag was reinstated above the 300-year-old Shire Hall after Mr Williams made his latest complaint and contacted Monmouth Labour councillor Catherine Fookes - now the MP for Monmouthshire - and council leader Mary Ann Brocklesby.

“They were very supportive and dismayed by the situation and the Welsh flag is now flying proudly on Monmouth Shire Hall,” said Mr Williams.

He had first questioned the absence of the Welsh flag from the grade one listed building in June 2023 and was told the Union Flag must be flown above the Welsh banner and the “integrity of the flagpole ” meant that wasn’t possible.

Staff at the Shire Hall then emailed Mr Willliams a copy of the protocol it was following, titled UK Government: Flying Flags; A plain English Guide.

Mr Williams said he then pointed out the protocol states it applies to England and he said by September 2023 he had confirmation from the Welsh Government that it had issued no diktat to local authorities on flag flying from their buildings.

Mr Williams, originally from Aberdare, said he was concerned that flying the Union flag was symptomatic of a lack of respect towards Welsh culture in the area.

He said: “We moved during Covid but as things got back to normal I started to realise the public building had the Union Jack and it should have the Welsh flag. I just picked up the vibe in Monmouth that there is anti-Welsh sentiment such as letters in the newspapers complaining about the Welsh language or bilingualism.”