At Lancashire County Council’s Cabinet on 9 October 2025, Burnley’s Cllr Tom Pickup spoke on the county’s flag policy and introduced a new property strategy for the council. His contribution on flags is above.
By that meeting the flag policy was settled. It sets out clearly which flags fly on county council buildings: the Union Flag, the Flag of England, the Lancashire Flag, the county council’s own flag, and the Armed Forces, Commonwealth and Merchant Navy flags, with a clear process for approving any change. As Cllr Pickup put it in an exchange with the opposition leader, Cllr Azhar Ali, the policy is now “very clear.” It is a simple, common-sense position: the flags on public buildings should be the national, county and military flags that bring people together.
At the same Cabinet, as the council’s Lead Member for Finance and Resources, Cllr Pickup introduced the council’s Property Strategy Principles. These set the direction for how Lancashire uses, manages and makes the best use of its land and buildings: getting value for money out of the council’s estate, and making sure the property the council holds actually works for residents and the services they rely on.
Flags and property strategy might sit at opposite ends of an agenda, but the thread is the same one that runs through Reform’s approach at County Hall: clear rules, careful use of public money, and a council that concentrates on doing the basics well.