Is it time for a truce over the Staffordshire flag?
Bosses at a heritage group in Staffordshire which won a poll to have its own flag recognised for the county have proclaimed their delight at the result.
They have now called on Staffordshire County Council, who rivalled the Heritage Group with their own flag, to adopt the traditional gold background and red chevron.
The group is hoping that the long running saga over what should officially be known as the flag of Staffordshire is over after its design beat the county council's design by over 350 votes in a poll held by the Flag Institute.
Margaret George, the chairman of Staffordshire Heritage Group, said: "I am absolutely delighted. We do feel we have represented the views of the people of Staffordshire.
"Even the poll run on the Express & Star website showed a high percentage were for our flag design.
"If the county council would have had the public debate in the first place there would not have been all of this.
"Our flag represents so many people and symbolises everything from the potteries to the Black Country. The Flag Institute does not look at the County Council's area, it looks at the historic county.
"If they want it as their emblem then that's fine and they obviously should be free to use what they want but I think it would make life much simpler if it was one flag."
In a statement released by the Heritage Group, bosses added: "We hope that Staffordshire County Council will embrace the new official county flag and either fly it alongside their own banner or maybe adopt the county flag as their own."
The heritage group's flag is to be added to the flag registry as the County Flag of Staffordshire.
They secured 566 votes on an online poll while the County Council's design, which was similar but featured a blue banner with a golden lion at the top, received just 211.
But prior to the vote going live the County Council attempted to withdraw their submission, saying they had 'lost faith' in the process and would be flying their flag regardless.
However the withdrawal did not reach the Flag Institute who ran the poll anyway.
In a statement released to the Express & Star, council leader Philip Atkins again called into question the Institute and again reiterated that the council flag would continue to fly.
He said: "The flag charity carried out its own poll covering a wide geographical area, including parts of the Black Country, and 825 people from a population of around two million residents voted, representing the views of less than 0.001 per cent of residents.
"As the registration of the flag by the charity also carries no official or legal status, our councils, communities, schools and organisations will continue to proudly fly our current county flag as we have done for years."
