Warwickshire County Council's controversial new flag policy is now in place after a split scrutiny panel narrowly voted against asking for it to be reconsidered.

It means Reform UK's ruling that only the flags of the UK, England and Warwickshire will be flown from Shire Hall as a matter of course is now council policy.

There are built-in exceptions for the armed forces flag and any royal flags but other symbols that used to be flown at the front of the building will not go up unless a request is made to and granted by the chair of the council, a position currently held by Reform UK's Councillor Ed Harris (Baddesley & Dordon).

Chief executive Monica Fogarty used to take such decisions with the Progress Pride and Ukraine flags among those routinely put up before Reform UK took office through May's local elections.

New leader Cllr George Finch requested that the Progress Pride flag be taken down prior to the end of Pride month – June – with Ms Fogarty's refusal resulting in a public storm and stinging criticism from national figures including Reform UK leader Nigel Farage MP.

The new policy was passed without dissent by the cabinet – the panel of Reform UK councillors in charge of major service areas – earlier this month but political opponents argued that it should have been voted on by full council. There were also calls for the chair's decisions to be public.

Two sets of four councillors triggered the call-in process, meaning the policy had to be reviewed by the resources fire and rescue overview and scrutiny committee on Monday. 

The arguments

The councillors behind the call-ins felt such decisions should not be left in the hands of a single person, noting that the chair of the council is a political appointment. 

Cllr Richard Dickson was among those who argued the process "could be abused through party political bias", giving examples of how it may be difficult for members of various parties to say yes to certain flags.

Cllr Judy Falp suggested the chair would be "predetermined" due to the public positions laid out by Mr Farage, Cllr Finch and other Reform UK members, while Labour group leader Councillor Sarah Feeney (Benn) warned of other pitfalls. 

"The decisions could be made by people with no understanding of the context of the request, or what it may mean to that group," she said.

"Will the chair have full training on equality and diversity, for example? I hate to say this but if we were to take bias to its extreme, we could end up with a flag flown that has links to groups that are not in sympathy with our aims and ideals."

She added: "Like many elected members here, we are concerned that we have had no invite to discuss or contribute to this debate before today.

"It also isn't clear how groups can ask for flags to be flown. It talks of a procedure but nothing is laid out yet, that makes people worried that there will be difficulties and that the policy will be weighted towards refusal, not acceptance."

Cllr Mark Stevens was succinct in adding: "Building on the point of looking for someone independent of the political side of things, I think we have that person – it is actually our chief executive." 

In response, portfolio holder for customer and localities Cllr Mike Bannister described the kickback as "a storm in a tea cup" with opponents "making too much of this". 

"There wasn't a policy. We've set a clear policy and the chair will stand by to receive requests from all organisations," he said.

"No one organisation should be put above another and that was what was asked for, wasn't it? The letters and emails we received asked why the Pride flag isn't in there, that the Pride flag should be in there. That raises an issue of seeking preeminence."

When asked questions during the section reserved for members of the scrutiny panel, Cllr Finch said the Reform UK group had "discussed and debated" the policy before taking note of amendments put forward by council officers – senior staff. 

"We adopted those with our principles of what we would like to do as the administration," he added. 

Asked how his group had voted on the flag policy behind closed doors, Cllr Finch said that was "the business of the Reform group and the Reform group only".

The vote

At the end of a debate that lasted more than an hour, it was over to the committee to pick between two options – let the decision stand or ask the cabinet reconsider – and the committee was split on what to do.

Cllr Keith Kondakor and Liberal Democrats Cllr Dickson, Cllr David Curtis and substitute Cllr Cliff Brown got behind a proposal to have a panel of three councillors, one each from the largest parties on the council, to take the decisions rather than placing it in the hands of one person. They also wanted all decisions on requests to fly flags to be made public. 

Both got voted down by six votes to four with Reform UK quartet Cllr John Waine , Cllr Neil Garland , Cllr Stuart Green and substitute Cllr Dan Glover backed by Conservative pair Councillor and chair of the panel Cllr Andy Crump. 

It means the policy is now able to be enacted with immediate effect.