Loyalist activist Jamie Bryson has claimed victory in his High Court challenge to a block on plans to fly the Union flag permanently at war memorials in Ards and North Down.
Mr Bryson said Ards and North Down Borough Council has agreed that moves to call in the proposal for reconsideration were made beyond a legally permitted deadline.
A draft order setting out the successful outcome to his judicial review is expected to be formally confirmed in court next week.
Mr Bryson said on Friday: “This is a huge win for unionism. This legal action has secured that the Union flag will fly 365 days a year from war memorials in Ards and North Down.
“I am very proud to have achieved this for unionism, but more importantly for all those who fought and died to defend that flag.”
The council originally passed the motion proposed by unionists in December last year.
But in early January its chief executive allowed a call-in requisition by some elected representatives - a method used to reconsider decisions which could have a disproportionate adverse impact on any section of the community.
Under the terms of the mechanism an 80% super majority is required for the original proposal to be successfully passed again.
In April another vote on the original motion failed to meet that standard.
The court heard unnamed councillors behind the call-in expressed concerns that flying the flag all year round at cenotaphs could affect those from Catholic, nationalist or republican backgrounds, along with members of the community who identify as “others”.
They contended that expansion of the policy would have a real potential of making the borough a less inclusive, welcoming and harmonious place to work, live or visit.
Representing himself in the challenge, Mr Bryson alleged that the local council failed to meet a statutory test by specifying any potential negative consequences.
He also raised a further ground of challenge by claiming the requisition was made out of time.
The requisition should have been rejected because the chief executive received it 47 minutes past a legislative cut-off point, the court was told.
Earlier this month Mr Justice Humphreys ruled that Mr Bryson had established an arguable case in the first stage of the challenge.
The case was due to proceed to a full hearing early next year.
But correspondence Mr Bryson received on Friday has proposed that the call-in decision should be quashed based on points he raised in argument about the requisition being out of time.
If confirmed by the judge, it would restore the council’s original decision to approve flying the Union flag 365 days a year from war memorials in the borough.
Mr Bryson claimed the outcome has defeated efforts by Alliance and SDLP representatives to block the policy.
“This is a moment of shared unionist celebration, but in time there will surely be questions as to what on earth unionist councillors were doing and why it took me, acting alone, to bring High Court proceedings to quash the decision,” he said.
“In any event, on the eve of Remembrance weekend, the Union flag will be going up.
“That’s the best tribute to those who went before and gave their lives.”
