A bid by SNP MP Patricia Gibson to remove a flagpole displaying the Union Jack in Largs was discussed at recent North Ayrshire Council planning meeting.

The flagpole, at 148 Main Street, is understood to have been installed by residents of one of the upper floor flats.

Planners had initially accepted the MP’s request, and recommended an enforcement notice be put in place to remove the flagpole.

Karen Yeomans, Executive Director (Economy and Communities) for NAC, said: “The owners of the flatted properties on the first and second floor have been advised that the flagpole is unauthorised and that a planning application would not be supported. They have been advised to remove the flagpole. However, to date this has not been done. No owner of any of the flats has responded to take responsibility for the flagpole.

“It is considered that the flagpole harms the visual amenity of the area by way of its high level siting, its prominence in the streetscene, a main route into and out of the town centre, and its incongruous appearance on the host building.”

However, during the planning committee meeting last week to discuss the enforcement order, Conservative councillor Tom Marshall, who is vice chair of planning, proposed that the committee took no such action, and suggested that it wasn’t the flag pole that Mrs Gibson was objecting to, but the nature of the flag itself.

He added that he thought it was ‘nice to see the flag flying’.

Cllr. Marshall added that he believed that some residents in Largs had put up Union flags to promote the issue of fishing rights during the EU referendum, although this particular flag was erected around about the time of the last Scottish Independence Referendum in 2014.

It was decided by the planning committee that the resident who had erected the flagpole should instead apply for planning permission for the flag above the public highway.

MP Patricia Gibson said: “I raised this matter on behalf of constituents who had expressed concern that the flag was designed to be provocative and was an eyesore on the Main Street.

“If the person responsible for the flag has been asked to submit a planning application then I would expect them to do so at the earliest opportunity.”