Whiter shade of pink ends Edinburgh’s long-running door dispute

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First it was an unacceptable pink, and then an unacceptable green. Now the owner of Edinburgh’s most famous front door has won, with a colour which can perhaps charitably be called off-white.

After nearly 10 months of dispute over conservation standards in the city’s New Town, council officials have declared defeat in their standoff with Miranda Dickson of Drummond Place.

Dickson, who inherited the three-storey townhouse from her parents during the Covid pandemic, upset her neighbours by painting the panelled door a vibrant pink last year.

Council officials ruled in October that colour breached the strict conservation rules that govern Georgian properties in the New Town – properties central to the city’s closely guarded Unesco world heritage site designation.

The city council said she had breached listed buildings legislation and served Dickson with an enforcement notice, ordering her to repaint it or face a fine of up to ?20,000. She was told to return it to the white originally used.

Dickson, a marketing consultant, then used an intense green instead – a shade of paint with the name Aloha. That too was incongruous, planning enforcement officers ruled in May, saying it represented a “discordant and obtrusive change” that detracted from the conservation area and breached local planning rules.

She pivoted to two other colours, and chose to use the “off-white” version of the two. The neighbourhood’s free newspaper, the Spurtle, reports that the pink-tinged off-white is known to the painting trade as Gaiety.

In a fresh ruling, planning officials remain unhappy and record that two of Dickson’s neighbours had complained about Gaiety. However, seemingly wearied by the controversy, the council has given in.

“The pink-coloured main entrance door fails to preserve the character of the listed building and conservation area where doors are traditionally a dark or muted colour,” they said.

“A site visit carried out on 12 July 2023 confirmed that whilst the colour of door is currently pale pink and not white as required by the notice, it is a muted colour and is acceptable to under-enforce the requirements of the enforcement notice.

“It is therefore recommended that the case is closed.”

Dickson was not available to comment but told the Guardian earlier this month she was “sad” that her neighbours had again complained. “There are so many more serious issues to get energetic about other than my front door,” she said.

She said the third colour she had used was “identical to a door depicted on page 45 of the official Edinburgh New Town conservation appraisal, so I’m struggling to see what is actually wrong with the new door colour from a council point of view”.

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Dickson was doubly incensed as she had spent considerable amounts of money on restoring the three-storey townhouse. A bright garland of pink and cream fabric roses and foliage now hangs on her door, matching its current colour.

In a report to councillors recommending that the council take no further action, the city’s chief planning officer, David Givan, warned that Dickson remained on notice.

“It should be noted that compliance with the terms of an enforcement notice does not discharge the notice. It will continue in effect and any repetition of the breach of planning control may incur further penalties or further legal proceedings,” he said.

Cammy Day, the Labour leader of City of Edinburgh council, said: “As part of the world heritage site, it’s really important that we protect the New Town area for future generations. We’ll always look into complaints we receive about alterations and take action if required.

“The centre of Edinburgh wouldn’t be the incredibly preserved place it is today without these planning rules.”

One concerned neighbour, and one of the original complainants, was unimpressed by the council’s decision and may protest.

“I think it’s very sad that by sheer persistence she has been able to put on a colour that is utterly not in the spirit of the New Town,” the neighbour said. “And she has done it three times: the [original] bubblegum pink was utterly ghastly. The green was the same thing; this she claims is muted.”