Gurkha is left flagging after council decision

12:26pm Sunday 3rd February 2008

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A PROUD former Gurkha with 28 years' service for the British Army has been told he cannot display his regiment's flag.

Asbahadui Gurung, a former captain with the Queen's Gurkha Signals, wanted to display the regiment's standard along with the union flag outside the Gurkha bar and restaurant in Sandford.

But his application to hang 1.5-metre flags on 4.5-metre poles outside the Wareham Road premises was refused last Thursday because the flag is not permitted under current advertising regulations.

The only permitted flags are any country's national flag, the commonwealth flag, that of the EU or UN, a county flag and the flag of any saint.

The planning officer's report stated: "The regimental Gurkha flag does not fit into any of these categories."

Although neighbours the highways authority and the parish council did not object, the case officer recommended refusal on the grounds that the "proposed additional flags and flag poles would constitute unnecessary additional clutter."

It was a view backed by the councillors.

But the report also admits that any of the "permitted" flags would have automatically been given consent without planning permission.

Restaurant owner Mr Gurung, originally from Nepal but a resident of the UK for 17 years, used to run a restaurant at Blandford Camp where a regiment of Gurkhas are stationed, and still counts Gurkha soldiers among his regular customers.

"I'm very proud and I wanted to show the standard," he said.

"I'm quite surprised.

"So many other places display it - in Blackpool they hang the Gurkha signals' flag, but it's been turned down here.

"I'm a bit disappointed."

For almost 200 years Gurkhas, recruited from Nepal, have fought alongside British soldiers, winning a reputation for bravery and ferocity.

Their motto is "better to die than be a coward" and they still carry into battle their traditional weapon - an 18in long curved knife known as the kukri.