INITIAL EMAIL SENT TO GEORGIA HALL

Dear Councillor Hall,

Unfortunately I was unable to speak with you at today’s Parish Council meeting, I
hope you are well. I did however have the opportunity to raise my concerns with the
Parish Council and will take the opportunity to reach out to you, this time however I
am able to do so with the support and backing of the full Council.

I am writing in regard to a very concerning article I had read from the Ipswich Star, it
stated that the Suffolk County Council Cabinet met and reviewed it’s “Flag Flying
Policy” and as a result of the decisions made the Pride Flag will no longer fly above
Endeavour house during pride month, which as we all know began on the first of
June, almost too conveniently close to the decision made by the SCC cabinet. I am
inclined to agree with the voices of the opposition and members of the community
who have described this decision as “Ill-timed” and “Callous” words which I echoed to
the Parish Council. I am conscious that you do not sit on the cabinet therefore I am in
no way holding you accountable, I am however taking this opportunity to raise a
number of questions to you I am hopeful the cabinet can consider, these are as
follows…

1. With the workload the council is currently dealing with and the discussions that
are taking priority such as the devolution, why throughout all this was now the right
time for the cabinet to even consider reviewing this policy?

2. To justify the decision made, a spokesperson on behalf of the cabinet stated that
they want to focus on “Suffolk traditions and values” what are Suffolk traditions and
values? Has this never included or will this now no longer include celebrating a
county which should be proud of welcoming and embracing the many minorities,
backgrounds and organisations that make up our community, this of course
including the LGBTQ+ Community?

3. I would like to bring to the Cabinets attention the published and promoted Suffolk
County Council “WE ASPIRE” Values, in which the E stands for, quote.

“Equality: Respecting, Valuing, Embracing and Celebrating everyones unique
differences”

Are these values especially the Equality value now Invalidated? To promote such
values of inclusion whilst making such decisions makes this is completely
contradictory.

4. The Council made the decision to postpone the May 2025 local elections for the
sole reason of focusing on the ‘Devolution’ fast track, where in this priority is the
Cabinets justification to make such a brash decision?

5. I was very disappointed to hear that this issue was not brought to and discussed
at a full council meeting, nor was the District Council (who work from Endeavour
House) were not consulted, what is the justification for bypassing the democratically
elected councils to seek a majority voice? Instead they are tarnished by the decisions
made by a select few.

Speaking from a personal note now, I have lived in Suffolk all my life, I have been so
lucky to have been brought up around a community that celebrates and encourages
inclusion and diversity, that holds dear to them the core British values of tolerance
and individual liberty. I have been able to live my life as a proud member of the
LGBTQ+ Community, marrying my husband in November 2024 with plans to settle
down and build a future in my home county. However since this decision has been
made my mind is changing, with an action like this no longer do I or other members
of the LGBTQ+ Community feel heard, valued and even welcome anymore, I know I
am not the only one who feels this. It might to some seem like a “trivial” issue about
a “colourful flag” but I must remind the cabinet that the rainbow flag is not one of an
“ideology” it is instead a symbol. A symbol which reminds us of the struggles many
members of the LGBTQ+ community face daily, in Suffolk, In the UK and all across
the Globe, it reminds us of the work that has been done to get us to this point and
most importantly it sends a message, a message which is simple yet powerful “You
are welcome and you are valued” a message that brings hope to those who are not
so lucky to have supportive families or networks around them and might feel alone.

I will finish this email with a request, I respectfully implore the Cabinet to consider
this message, re-think their decision, accept that with or without the malicious intent
this action was incredibly Ill-timed and not properly considered, and reassure, we, the
people that Suffolk is still and always will be a County which celebrates and
embraces our differences and instead will not begin to undo the work people from all
walks of life have fought to build over the years.

I look forward to recieving your response.

I am happy to discuss this further in person if needed.

Kindest Regards

Cllr. Mark Hurley

RESPONSE FROM COUNCILLOR HALL

Hi Mark,

Sorry, I couldn’t address this in person, as stated to Graham I had a meeting clash
so couldn’t attend last night.

Thank you for your email, I personally send my deepest apologies that this has
happened, and you feel the way you do.

As noted, I can’t personally provide you with a response however I have forwarded
your email to the top of the team Matthew Hicks and who will provide you with a
response.

I would never want anyone to feel like they can’t be part of the community and thank
you for raising this.

Kindest Regards,

Georgia

REPLY TO COUNCILLOR HALL

Dear Georgia,

I just want to thank you for such a prompt and heartfelt response, I can completely
understand that you or Matthew hicks would be able to provide the answers so
suddenly so I completely understand.

I want to thank you personally for your reassurance aswell, it is incredibly
appreciated

Kindest regards

Mark

RESPONSE FROM COUNCILLOR HICKS

Dear Mark

Thank you for your email about Suffolk’s County Council’s revised approach to
flying flags. I can assure you this was not a Cabinet decision (of which I am in fact a
member) and nor did it consume valuable council time and resources. Furthermore, it
only applies to buildings solely owned by Suffolk County Council – so it wouldn’t be
for any of our tenant organisations to be involved.

Instead, this was a review of our current approach, which looked at protocols from
neighbouring councils, national guidance and was pending for some time because
our previous approach lacked rigour and required standardisation to bring clarity and
consistency to our decision-making. We often receive requests to fly different flags
(many of which we do not own) and felt it important to have a protocol. Flag flying
requests will always be considered but will need to consistent with our approach,
including not promoting political, social, religious or commercial interests, awareness
or advocacy campaigns. This approach is not specific to Pride Month.

As for Suffolk County Council’s commitment to equality, diversity and inclusion, I
can assure you that we follow all requirements set out in law and our approach to
flying flags does not diminish any commitment to staff or the services we deliver.

I hope this addresses your concerns and thank you again for your email.

Kind regards

Matthew

RESPONSE TO COUNCILLOR HICKS

Dear Councillor Hicks,

Firstly I would like to thank you for replying to this email, I do appreciate the time you
have taken to consider this and amongst other things going on in the council writing
a response.

I understand the process that you have mentioned and I can understand the
reasoning behind it however there are still a great deal of questions and concerns I
am left with.

I feel that in this response the issue itself is not covered directly, you mention that
there was need to review the current protocols which I can see but this still has
resulted in the timing, communication and outcome causing a great deal of hurt to
members of the LGBTQ+ community all across Suffolk. I am also concerned that an
amendment with this much gravity behind it was not discussed by the full council.

I see that there are two sides to this, I respect that the council are meeting all its legal
obligations, but legality aside there is much more that could and should be done, the
pride flag is a symbol, a symbol of acceptance, a symbol of welcome and a symbol
of support, when these symbols are no longer flying over local government buildings
after they had been for so many years the connotation and message is still very
clear.

With everything happening across this country at the moment I could not think of
anything more important for a local authority to do but proudly fly the rainbow flag
and show the people of Suffolk that anyone and everyone is valued and accepted.

It might be easy to say that this is still the case, but for those that do not have strong
local networks no longer seeing that pride flag over Endeavour House sends a
message, this time not one of support.

I would ask that this motion in the respect of pride month and the members of the
LGBTQ+ community who call Suffolk their home this issue is brought to and
discussed openly by the council. There is still time before June ends to raise that flag
once more.

I appreciate your response and time

With kind regards

Cllr. Mark Hurley

EMAIL TO COUNCILLOR HALL (AFTER NO RESPONSE FROM CLLR HICKS)

Dear Georgia

I hope you are well and I would like to firstly open this email with another thank you
for your heartfelt response to my query earlier this month, I am very grateful for the
speed and subject within the reply.

As you may have seen Cllr. Hicks kindly responded to my query which you had sent
on, this email however has not answered the questions in which I had posed and
unfortunately reads as a very blanketed “generic” legal response. I did reply to this
email, which also included a few other questions which unfortunately have yet to
have been answered so I just wanted to put this to you with hopes of reaching Cllr.
Hicks, I have CC’d him in also along with the Parish Clerks as it is important for him
to note that this is not just a question from me about the decision but instead a
question from the unanimous Parish Council.

– In the original email I have asked if the council will consider the damage and hurt
this move has caused due to its ill timed decision?

– Cllr. Hicks described that the Council is doing “All that is legally required” to which I
must say that this response seems like a very detached response one which does
not take in to account that this goes far beyond simple “legal requirement” where the
real matter at hand is the councils willingness to show unity and support with
members of minorities that make up our community, will the council re-consider this
approach?

– It was mentioned that the flag flying policy “had to be addressed” I understand from
time to time policies will need to be reviewed and amended, but I still cannot fathom
as to why with devolution being the hot topic was now a suitable time to review the
policy?

– When the Parish Council decides to review a policy and make proposed
amendments these must be done through an open channel no decisions can be
made until the council has debated and voted on the amendment, why was the leader
of SCC able to make such a quick amendment without consultation and debate with
the full council? It seems like a very quick bypass of the communities elected

officials.

Thank you again for your time and Cllr. Hicks time also, I would like to repeat end the
message with a quote from the most recent social media post by East Bergholt
Parish Council on this matter.

“We believe equality matters. Pride is about visibility, community and solidarity –
values that should be celebrated, not sidelined”

I would like to once more call for Suffolk County Council to reconsider this
amendment and have an open full council debate on any flag flying policy that will
effect the future.

Kindest regards

Cllr. Mark Hurley

FINAL RESPONSE FROM COUNCILLOR HICKS

Dear Mark

As I have said before, SCC is very much an organisation that cares about its
employees and residents. The changes to the flag protocol came about to bring
clarity and consistency to our decision-making because our previous approach
lacked rigour.

The timing, I accept, could be seen as not ideal in terms of the changes just ahead of
the pride month but the decision was looking at a wider protocol and not at any
particular flag flying in isolation.

Suffolk CC operates a Leader and Cabinet model and more can be found on this in
our constitution on our website.

I hope that helps clarify this for you.

Kind regards

Matthew