A mother of two who faced a £20,000 fine for painting her front door pink has slammed the council for having “outdated” rules.
Miranda Dickson, who is 48 years old, had a professional paint job done on the front door of her Georgian home last year as part of a renovation.
In 2019, Ms. Dickson got the house from her parents. It is in Edinburgh’s New Town, which is a World Heritage Conservation Site.
But the City of Edinburgh Council’s planners don’t like the door’s new color and now want it painted white with gloss.
Ms. Dickson, on the other hand, thinks that the complaint is malicious and called it “petty.”
She said that her street, Drummond Place, is like Notting Hill or Bristol because all of the front doors are bright colors.
Ms Dickson said: ‘There’s cities in the UK like Bristol, Notting Hill and Harrogate which are brightly coloured.
‘Coming home and seeing my front door gives me joy, I’m proud of it.
‘It’s my house, I own it. It’s not like I wanted to build a glass box.
‘Georgians loved pink – in that era all the windows were painted grey or black, and people had different coloured front doors.
‘I’ve had overwhelming support from people saying ‘it’s amazing’, and ‘it makes me smile’.’
People often take photos of the pink front door, which has its own Instagram account.
But since planners at the City of Edinburgh Council don’t like it, Ms. Dickson could be fined £2,000 if she doesn’t take off the “illegal” paint.
If she is found guilty of breaking the rules in the conservation area, she could be fined £20,000.
Ms. Dickson said that the order goes against the planning rules of the City of Edinburgh Council, which say that doors should be “muted.”
She joked that she could paint the door in a rainbow of “muted” colors, and she criticized what she called a “Farrow and Ball attitude” about heritage.
She said: ‘I don’t want to paint it white, I’ll paint it dark red.
‘People are saying ‘why don’t you paint it a rainbow of muted colours’.
‘In a world where we are supposed to be open minded and after all the stuff we’ve been through the past two years, I thought people would be more community minded.
‘They are saying they haven’t received any complaints about other brightly coloured doors in New Town and saying it should be an ‘appropriate’ colour.
‘Appropriate to whom?
‘Do we feel as a society that what was appropriate 30 years ago is appropriate to now?
‘If I said it was sexist or anti-LGBT the council might back off.’
