A defiant property developer has vowed to âfight the councilâ after unfurling a giant 100ft flag on the local authorityâs former headquarters.
Speaking to GB News, James Holmes told Martin Daubney how he has been branded âracistâ and âfascistâ for his display by some outraged locals.
A row between Mr Holmes and Chesterfield Borough Council ignited after he was told to take down a smaller Union flag.
Mr Holmes responded in spectacular fashion by draping a giant flag across the entire front of the building.
James Holmes has remained defiant against his local council after unfurling a 100ft Union flag over his building|GB NEWS / FACEBOOK
Recalling how the flag row began, Mr Holmes told GB News: âWe say small flag, it was 30ft across, 24ft high, so I suppose itâs relative.
âBut it had a campaign through the middle of it which said âFly the Flag.UKâ. Because if we just put up a Union flag then people would just go âoh itâs a Union flagâ. So we put it on there so that people would identify that weâre trying to do something, not just another flag.
He added: âSo the council didnât like that because they said âitâs not a flag, itâs an advertisementâ. But I thought, well, Iâm not just going to take it down, I own the building, letâs just see what happens.
âIâm prepared to fight the council out of principle.â
Mr Holmes originally had a smaller flag displayed on the building before replacing it with his latest display|FACEBOOK
Criticising the council, the property developer said: âItâs funny how if you telephone the council, youâll spend longer waiting in their queuing system than what it took for two council officers to come from the town hall, which is 100m away.
âThat flag had barely rolled down to the bottom before two council officers were stood there. It takes you longer than that to get through the calling system. So I thought, âno, out of principle, Iâm not going to do this, Iâm just gonna leave it upâ. If you want to waste taxpayers money, Iâll fight it out of principle.â
Asked by host Martin Daubney how locals have reacted to the flag, Mr Holmes said although it is â99 per cent positiveâ, but has also been called a âracistâ by some residents.
He revealed: âPeople going past have been papping their hooters, thumbs up, and Iâve had about tens of thousands of messages. But since the new one went up, youâre always going to get some dissenters.
Mr Holmes told GB News that he has been called âracistâ and âfascistâ as a result|GB NEWS
âSome people want to call it racist, fascist, just the easy tropes to chuck out there, and theyâve chucked them out so much that theyâve lost all their meaning, really. Somebody even vandalised the building with âracistâ, âfascistâ and stuff like that.â
In a statement, a spokesman for Chesterfield Borough Council said: âItâs evident that Mr Holmes is keen to recognise our national period of Remembrance, which is something we also value highly as a council.
âWe did contact Mr Holmes in relation to the previous union flags on the front, and on top of the building, as these advertised a commercial website and are therefore classed as unauthorised advertisements.
âWe intend to take enforcement action if the remaining unauthorised advertisement is not removed.â
