{"id":360332,"date":"2025-08-20T20:55:15","date_gmt":"2025-08-20T20:55:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/360332\/"},"modified":"2025-08-20T20:55:15","modified_gmt":"2025-08-20T20:55:15","slug":"why-st-georges-cross-has-appeared-in-the-middle-of-three-greater-manchester-roundabouts-and-what-will-happen-next","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/360332\/","title":{"rendered":"Why St George’s cross has appeared in the middle of three Greater Manchester roundabouts – and what will happen next"},"content":{"rendered":"

It follows similar actions, which have caused some controversy, in other parts of the country<\/p>\n

20:08, 20 Aug 2025Updated 20:12, 20 Aug 2025<\/p>\n

Two roundabouts with St George’s crosses in the middle in Sale(Image: Sean Hansford | Manchester Evening News)<\/p>\n

The St George’s cross has been painted in the middle of three roundabouts in Greater Manchester – but they won’t be staying for long.<\/p>\n

Red crosses symbolising England’s national flag have been painted on the white middle section of three roundabouts in Trafford<\/a>.<\/p>\n

They have appeared on two roundabouts next to each other at the junction of Firs Way and Manor Avenue in Sale<\/a>. Whilst a third at the junction of Firs Road and Harboro Road has also been painted.<\/p>\n

It follows similar actions, which have caused some controversy, in other parts of the country.<\/p>\n

Never miss a story with the MEN’s daily Catch Up newsletter – get it in your inbox by signing up here<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Trafford Council<\/a> says that roundabouts legally have to be white in the middle and that people painting them are ‘putting themselves and motorists at risk of serious injury.’<\/p>\n

They said the crosses would be removed in due course.<\/p>\n

Red crosses have been painted across the roundabouts’ white centre(Image: Sean Hansford | Manchester Evening News)<\/p>\n

A town hall spokesperson said: “The flag of St George is a proud symbol of our national heritage but people painting on roundabouts in the middle of the road are putting themselves and motorists at risk of serious injury.<\/p>\n

“It is a legal requirement that roundabouts are a solid white colour, visible and have some skid resistance for safety reasons so we have to use a specialist paint.<\/p>\n

Join the Manchester Evening News <\/strong>WhatsApp<\/strong> group <\/strong>HERE<\/a><\/p>\n

“This means we will have to remove the red lines and will either have to jet wash them or do a more costly repainting job if that is not possible.\u201d<\/p>\n

Elsewhere in the UK, at least half a dozen roundabouts have been painted in and around Birmingham, prompting the council there to issue a similar safety warning<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Trafford Council says they pose a safety issue(Image: Sean Hansford | Manchester Evening News)<\/p>\n

Whilst, Union and St George’s flags have been attached to lampposts and other highway infrastructure in various neighbourhoods of the city, with some hung on major roads such as the A38 in south Birmingham.<\/p>\n

A row erupted after the council ordered some to be taken down.<\/p>\n

Tower Hamlets Council in east London have also said they would be removing flags<\/a> put on lampposts ‘without permission.’ Some had been placed near a hotel in Canary Wharf that has been been used to house asylum seekers.<\/p>\n

The town hall says the crosses will be removed in due course(Image: Sean Hansford | Manchester Evening News)<\/p>\n

There have also been reports of flags being hung on streets in Bradford, Newcastle, Norwich and Epping in Essex.<\/p>\n

It is understood the hanging of flags and painting of roundabouts has arisen from an online movement called ‘Operation Raise the Colours.’<\/p>\n

The presence of the flags has sparked a fierce debate with those responsible describing it as a patriotic move to celebrate the country\u2019s history and traditions.<\/p>\n

St George’s flags on Genners Lane in Birmingham last week(Image: Nick Wilkinson\/Birmingham Live)<\/p>\n

But it has also led to concern from others amid claims flags were being flown for political reasons and to stir up division.<\/p>\n

A number of politicians from both the Conservative Party<\/a> and Reform have criticised the removal of flags.<\/p>\n

Earlier this week, the Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer’s official spokesman was questioned on the issue.<\/a><\/p>\n

An online movement has seen flags hung from lampposts and street furniture, such as in the Weoley Castle area of Birmingham(Image: Nick Wilkinson\/Birmingham Live)<\/p>\n

Asked of the Prime Minister’s view on councils removing flags, he said: “I think the PM has always talked about his pride of being British, the patriotism he feels.<\/p>\n

“I think he\u2019s talked about that previously [\u2026] not least recently in relation to the Lionesses’ successful campaign in the Euros. Patriotism will always be an important thing to him.”<\/p>\n

Asked if the PM was supportive of people who flew English flags, the spokesman said: “Absolutely, patriotism, putting up English flags.<\/p>\n

“We put up English flags all around Downing Street every time the English football team \u2013 women\u2019s and men\u2019s \u2013 are out trying to win games for us.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It follows similar actions, which have caused some controversy, in other parts of the country 20:08, 20 Aug…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":360333,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8813],"tags":[748,393,4884,2465,2619,1289,26900,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-360332","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-manchester","8":"tag-britain","9":"tag-england","10":"tag-great-britain","11":"tag-manchester","12":"tag-sale","13":"tag-trafford","14":"tag-trafford-council","15":"tag-uk","16":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115063091114717749","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/360332","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=360332"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/360332\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/360333"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=360332"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=360332"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=360332"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}