Pink door in the New Town - your views online

Miranda Dickson is angry that the council is threatening here with a fine over her pink door

Miranda Dickson got the front door of her Georgian home in the New Town professionally painted pink last year as part of a renovation.

Leah Rankin: I pass this house every morning driving to work and it cheers me up to see it.

Jacqueline Donaldson: I love houses and doors that are colourful. The UK is so dreary, we need a bit more colour to cheer people up.

Richard O’Donnell: I prefer black for that sort of a door in a Georgian house. White? Yuck! Pink? Hmm, not my cup of tea. However, if it’s her house, she should be allowed any colour she wants. I think it would look wrong (in the town), though, if someone wanted to paint the whole house (stonework) a colour. I’d expect someone (the council) to intervene with that, but a front door? Leave the lady alone!

Marcus Allison: Hold on… if she had a house in some random street somewhere else no-one would care. She owns a house that’s part of a Unesco World Heritage Site. If she doesn’t like it then move. Anyone that’s ever been to Edinburgh would understand that if they didn’t have these rules, the town would soon be ruined and lose its incredible charm. Sure this is just a door, and who cares. The problem is what comes next.

Corrine Jackson: It’s a door colour – that’s all. Surely being permitted to show some personality in your own front door should not be bound up in bureaucracy! It’s a colour – what do the conservationists have against colour? It makes no sense and merely represents Edinburgh as staid and dull. That’s not the Edinburgh I know and love.

Denise Farrell: Just because something is historic doesn’t mean it has to be dull and boring. It’s not like she’s changing the physical bricks and mortar. There is no way that front door is an original so why shouldn’t she be allowed to paint it. It’s only temporary – it can be returned to boring when she sells.

Dorothy Maitland: The council should be focusing on much more important things than a lady who is taking pride in her property and painting her door a lovely bright and cheery colour.

Andrew D Wright: It’s a Unesco World Heritage area – she has no right to paint it contrary to the rules for that area. She would have been well aware of that when she bought the property.

Sonia Mcginney: Leave the woman alone and be happy! Life is far too short for petty things like this. If it makes people smile when walking by then that’s enough

Laura Cameron: I painted my front door pink too and it gives me joy every day. I love seeing a colourful door and really don’t see how a beautifully painted door can spoil a heritage area – there were differently coloured doors and windows in the past.

Sheila Wilson: I personally think the colour is lovely and brightens things up but that’s not the point. Edinburgh’s New Town has strict rules which she would have been made aware of.

Bob Laidlaw: She lives in a Unesco area of historic charm and the council is 100 per cent right to enforce the rules. We all accept local planning rules as owners of a property and we accept them as a condition of ownership. If she wants to have a pink door to welcome her home, move somewhere else. The Edinburgh New Town is the envy of the world because it was always planned to be that way. Those lucky enough to afford to live there need to appreciate it’s a shared heritage, they are just the lucky custodian.

Kate Tulloch: I like it too but I live in a conservation area (a lot lower down the scale than a Unesco World Heritage Site) and have to pay for planning permission to change the colour of my front door. It’s my front door too but even if I get permission, only certain “hertitage-type” colours are permitted. Whilst I hope she doesn’t get fined this ridiculous amount, if this is overturned, then I’ll be getting my tartan paint out!

Gill Henderson: We are fast becoming a dirty, dreary city where fewer people are taking any pride in their homes, gardens and the street outside their homes. It’s sad to see. We should be grateful that at least this lady is taking an interest in looking after her home.

Graeme Flynn: Ridiculous! It’s 2022, not 1940! If she owns her home then she’s entitled to do what she wants within reason and painting her door the desired colour is perfectly fine.

John Gibson: It does stand out when you see the rest of the street.