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Lilac house last chance – Two months to repaint ‘panto scenery home’
A MOTHER is being given a two-month deadline to repaint her lilac home in an attempt to end a bitter two-year dispute over the shade that shocked councillors.
Defiant Janice Daines has been locked in a battle with St Edmundsbury Borough Council after she painted her Grade II listed cottage in Callis Street, Clare without prior permission. Council planners later objected saying that the provocative palette of lilac was unsuitable on Mrs Daines’ 17th Century home.
She then took her case to appeal after the authority refused to give her Listed Building Consent, with councillors likening the colour scheme to “Teletubby Land” and “Pantomime Scenery”. But in November last year, the appeals Planning Inspector ruled against Mrs Daines, saying: “The colour does harm the appearance of the conservation area and detracts from the architectural quality of the listed building”.
The council will now serve the enforcement notice by the end of January giving Mrs Daines two-months to comply with the order or consider a second appeal. If the order is upheld and Mrs Daines still refuses to repaint her property, she could face legal action or the council could repaint the property themselves, charging her for the cost.
She still has the option of taking her case to the High Court, and despite the treat of the enforcement notice, Mrs Daines is refusing to throw in the towel. She once vowed that she would rather go to prison than change the colour of her home and she still says she wants the lilac colour to stay.
“I am not exactly sure what I am going to do, I want to wait until I get the enforcement notice before making any decisions said Mrs Daines. “ I still want to keep my home lilac so I don’t think I will give up just yet!”
Photograph by Clare-UK
Story By: Patrick Lowman
Date : 25-01-2002
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