Attempts to remove flags from lamp-posts on a busy road have been halted after people started putting them back up, a council’s leader has said.

Contractors working for Devon County Council removed about 35 St George and Union flags from lamp-posts along Bridge Road and around Countess Wear roundabout in Exeter at about 17:30 GMT on Sunday.

But the authority said the operation was stopped due to safety concerns.

Julian Brazil, the council’s leader, said the flags made some people “feel uncomfortable” and those who put up the flags were risking their lives and would be charged the cost of removing them.

Brazil said: “Some people were quite agitated we were taking them down and they turned up and started putting them back up.

“People are 30 or 40ft (9 to 12m) up in the air, it’s a dangerous occupation.”

He said the council would look to recoup its costs so “the people that put them up would be liable to pay for it”.

The Highways Act 1980 states the authority can remove any items which have been put up without its consent.