Lancashire flag flying at Department for Communities and Local Government
The flag representing the historic Red Rose county of Lancashire has been hoisted above the department's offices to mark Lancashire Day.
To celebrate the important place counties play in the nation’s cultural heritage Secretary of State Eric Pickles has asked that English county standards be flown alongside the Union Flag outside DCLG’s Eland House headquarters in Victoria.
Mr Pickles raised the first flag - for his adopted home county of Essex - in a ceremony also attended earlier this year by celebrity astrologer and long-time English county campaigner Russell Grant.
Flags are being flown for a week at a time in alphabetical order, or in the case of Lancashire - to coincide with the county day on 27 November.
Eric Pickles said:
The Union Flag rightly has pride of place outside the department but I’m delighted it will now be flown alongside our traditional and ceremonial county flags.
England’s counties continue to form an important part of our cultural and local identity in this country and many people remain deeply attached to their home county - both the traditional ‘cricket’ counties and in some cases their more modern administrative successors. This sense of pride and shared identity is 1 of the things that binds communities together and it’s right that the government department responsible for communities and local government should be actively recognising the important role they play.
Chris Dawson from the Friends of Real Lancashire said:
Successive governments have confirmed the boundaries of Lancashire, and we welcome their further confirmation by the new government, which demonstrates the valuable part that traditional counties play in modern life.
We hope that the flying of traditional county flags outside the department’s office will lead to further measures to promote the identity of Britain’s traditional counties. We welcome the flying of the Lancashire flag in celebration of Lancashire Day.
Further information
The department is obliged to fly the European Union flag during Europe Week (week beginning 9 May) under Article 7(2) of EC Regulation 1828/2006.
The Lancashire flag has been kindly loaned by the Association of British Counties at no charge.
Photographs of the county flags will be added to the DCLG Flickr channel