A BITTER row has broken out over a Selby town centre shop's right to fly the Union Flag.

The Press revealed last November that Wetherells department store, in The Crescent, had been told to remove flagpoles from its frontage by council officers.

Officers said the flagpoles - two on the store front and three along the side - required permission because they lie within the central conservation area around Selby Abbey.

The store used to fly the Union Flag on special occasions, most recently during England's World Cup campaign last summer.

Now Selby District Council's planning department has turned down a retrospective application from store bosses to allow the flagpoles.

A council spokesman said officers had made the decision to reject the application in line with rules and regulations governing the conservation area, which includes The Crescent. But Mike Hinks, company director at Wetherells has now resubmitted the application. It is scheduled to go before the planning committee on February 28, where it will be considered by councillors.

Town councillor Jude Thurlow said: "The council say this is a conservation area, but those flags have been there for years.

"You see a number of hideous things in the conservation area that should be removed, but I don't think this is one of them.

"And I can hardly imagine Wetherells would fly the flag to incense people.

"When you compare the staid character of Wetherells over the years, and then the idea that flying the flag would offend anyone - it's another example of political correctness gone mad.

"I can't see any problem at all with it and I hope that the planning committee concur."

Mr Hinks declined to comment, saying he did not wish to "rock the boat" before the planning committee met.

He previously told The Press: "The Wetherell family feel strongly about this, and so do I. I'm Selby born and bred, and we should be pulling together on issues like this, not pulling apart.

"You get people who really don't seem to have the interest or the heart of the town in mind. I know there's a rulebook, but there has to be some flexibility in applying it."

He said the store had had similar flagpoles up before he joined the store more than 20 years ago, but had taken them down, before replacing them about five years ago.