Police won't be investigating removal of pride flag from roof of Barnsley Town Hall

It follows complaints from Liberal Democrat councillors about people gaining "unauthorised access" to the roof at Barnsley Town Hall and taking down the flag.

They alleged that on Tuesday two Reform councillors "attended the Town Hall front desk, angrily objected to the flag and behaved in a way staff found abusive and intimidating". After this a "person or people" gained "unauthorised access to the restricted roofspace".

The Lib Dems’ statement read: "The person or people who entered the area removed the non-binary pride flag, replaced it with the St George's Cross and discarded the pride flag on the ground, rather than returning it to staff."

The party reported the matter to the police and demanded that "all relevant evidence, including access records, staff accounts and the flag itself is preserved", further claiming they are "serious allegations".

South Yorkshire Police said they'd received a report of criminal damage, but "following enquiries, will not be taking the investigation forward as it has been determined no crime has occurred".

The Lib Dems also raised a standards complaint over the behaviour of the councillors, adding that staff “must be protected from any intimidation or retaliation”.

During a full council meeting in 2023, members passed a motion for the non-binary pride flag to be flown.

But after the council passed into the control of Reform, the group announced the pride flag would no longer be flown at the town hall during Pride Month.

Barnsley Council leader William Brown said going forward, only the Union flag, the St George's Cross and the Barnsley Council flags would be flown year-round. However they then proceeded to raise the Armed Forces flag.

Councillor Brown said: “The matter is currently being investigated by the monitoring officer.”