Households in England risk having to repaint houses after a council order. An 82-year-old has slammed a stressful order from her local authority to repaint her bright blue house.
Mary Kenny, 82, from Deal, told ITV she has six months by Dover District Council to repaint her house, after a council order. The local authority made the order amid claims and complaints that her bright blue house did not fit in with neighbours.
The 82-year-old had spent more than £3,000 painting her house blue in 2023 because she thought similar nearby houses looked pretty. Ms Kenny explained: "It took three weeks to paint and nobody objected at all, most people said they liked it. And then sometime later I heard from the council that there had been a complaint by a neighbour."
Now, the council has taken action. Mary said: "They do not explain why it is alright to paint your house yellow, or brown, or mushroom, but not blue. The reasons are cloaked in secrecy and it is that lack of openness with the council which I really feel needs to be addressed to some extent." She added: "I do find it very stressful, I have all sorts of health issues."
In a statement, Dover District Council said: "The site is within the Middle Deal Conservation Area, where permitted development rights relating to painting of masonry or other walling material have been removed for elevations fronting a highway. This means that planning permission was required for these works which has not been sought. The decision to issue an enforcement notice was made as the painting of the dwelling was considered visually unsympathetic to the character of the conservation area."
ITV reported the local authority initially advised the 82-year-old to paint her house white or cream.
