Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Public vote over design of Sutherland’s new flag following backlash for original choice

There was a backlash over this design that was chosen to be Sutherland's new flag.
There was a backlash over this design that was chosen to be Sutherland's new flag.

Residents in Sutherland are to have the deciding vote over the design of Sutherland’s new flag following public backlash for the committee’s original choice.

The flag registered by the court of the Lord Lyon – showing a swooping eagle on a yellow and red background with three stars or ‘mullets’ – was deemed ugly by members of the Sutherland community with some saying it looked more like a budgie.

Following a meeting last week, the Lord Lieutenant has now ordered the Sutherland Flag Committee to publish the shortlist of entries for the Flag Competition after deciding to hand the casting vote back over to the public.

Philip Tibbetts, Community Vexillologist for the Flag Institute and spokesman for the Sutherland Flag Committee, said the aim of having the public vote is to bring back a sense of unity within the local community.

Philip Tibbetts, Community Vexillologist for the Flag Institute and spokesman for the Sutherland Flag Committee.

He said: “The Sutherland Flag Committee, made up of representatives from the Lord Lieutenancy, Highland Council and local schools, decided at the end of March to have a period of reflection in order to calmly assess the feedback of the community.


>> Keep up to date with the latest news with The P&J newsletter


“This enabled them at their follow-up meeting, last Friday, to consider all options on the table. As a result it was decided that this was the best way forward for the county was to hold a vote – with the existing flag on offer as one of the options; which I am very happy to help support.

“The committee had been made aware of support for the originally chosen flag so it was considered fair to ensure this was an option in the vote, along with the other finalists from the judging”

The public vote is expected to be held before the end of the year incorporating between four and six design ideas.  The original chosen design will be included within the options; with each one meeting the criteria for good flag design and met Lyon Court requirements.

The vote will be organised with support from the Flag Institute and endorsed by the Court of the Lord Lyon.