ECOTRICITY founder Dale Vince is sticking to his guns after Brexiteers complained about his 10m tall EU flag to Stroud District Council.

The entrepreneur behind Ecotricity and owner of Forest Green Rovers hung the huge flag from his firm's headquarters in Stroud as an 'up-yours' to the Government over Brexit .

The flag is draped from Lion House, Ecotricity's flagship building on Rowcroft Lock, which can be clearly seen by traffic heading through the town.

Installed over the weekend, the blue and yellow flag has since drawn some complaints.

Mr Vince took to Twitter to communicate with the complainants.

In a tweet, he said: "Hello to the Brexiteers who complained about our EU flag to the local council.

"They contacted us yesterday and told us we needed planning permission as an advert.

"We checked national planning regs, and the EU flag is specifically allowed without planning permission. Ours stays."

A Stroud District Council spokesperson said: “While the green company flag on the front of the building did need planning consent, this new flag is covered by an exemption, as outlined in Department for Communities and Local Government guidance.”

For more information on this guidance: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/15438/flying_flags_guide.pdf

After putting up the flag, Mr Vince wrote on Facebook: "It's for Boris Johnson and Nigel Farage, the hard Brexiteers who want to drag us out of the EU.

"I think the EU is a great thing, if you look at the impact it's had on Britain in particular in cleaning up our waterways and beaches and stuff.

"A lot of the environmental legislation we've embraced today came from Europe, over the heads of our government."