A flag featuring the historic coat of arms of Angus will be removed from the county’s buildings in a cost-cutting measure.
The local authority’s policy and resources committee voted to remove the flag entirely after being asked to spend £4,500 on 10 replacement flags for its depleted stock.
The emblem was introduced by the previous Angus Alliance rainbow administration, which opponents feared would see no saltires flown from council buildings.
In the end, both flags were flown side by side at a cost of almost £30,000.
On Tuesday, Arbroath independent councillor David Fairweather from the previous administration attempted to reach a compromise, suggesting that one Angus flag remained at the council headquarters in Forfar.
He said: “We should be proud that Angus has a flag with so much heritage. I agree that £4,500 for 10 flags is nonsensical in these difficult times. What I propose is keeping one flag at the aptly named Angus House.
“I worked out the £450 expense (to buy one flag) for 24 months (its expected life cycle) would cost £19 a month or £4.30 a week.”
Former Alliance leader Councillor Bob Myles also spoke in favour of keeping the flag, which he said was introduced to promote civic pride and identity.
“Other areas across the world have their own flag and they fly proudly,” he said.
“There was nothing wrong with the initiative which was hijacked by a hostile press and negativity from the SNP saying we were trying to tear down the saltire. Nothing was further from the truth.”
However, Arbroath councillor Alex King said that spending £4,500 was a “lot of money to stick in the air”.
He added: “Money is extremely tight. I can not possibly agree to spending £4,500 on buying new flags.”
Councillor Glennis Middleton added: “In this day and age when we are facing very severe cuts I think, to pardon a pun, we cut our cloth according to our needs.”