A COUPLE has told how they fought a council and WON after they tried to force them to repaint their house.
Kate Codrington, 55, and her partner Ian Davis, 62, transformed their yellow Watford home in August 2020 when they painted it purple.
But, after the revamp was completed, the couple were contacted by Watford Borough Council which had received an objection by a mystery complainant.
Council bosses ruled that the lilac colour was “harmful” as they live in a conservation area.
The couple received another blow from the Council last summer when it failed to back their retrospective planning application to turn the once-yellow property lilac.
Author Kate told The Sun: “When I suggested it to my partner it was just a bit of cheekiness really. I was very surprised when he said yes and we picked this nice light quiet colour.
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“When whoever complained, it was a real big shock and I felt really saddened that people were that petty and miserable.”
But when Kate and Ian realised that the majority of the community was behind them, they decided to take on the council and appeal their decision because of the “conservation area”.
Kate said: “I mean come on, we live in Watford. It’s a lovely neighbourhood but it’s very ordinary.
“It’s not like we live in the Cotswolds or the lake district or somewhere of outstanding natural beauty. It’s ordinary houses with ordinary people.
“Are they trying to conserve? Magnolia? Sky dishes? That speaks of pretty poor quality of life.”
She added: “I think it’s so nice that the colour of our house makes people happy when they come home from work.
‘BIGGER PICTURE’
“The council need to see the bigger picture. There are a lot of vulnerable people in Watford. We have a massive homeless problem here.
“They need to look at getting people homes rather than looking at the colour of people’s homes.
“The food banks are under a huge amount of stress because people can’t afford to eat.
“That’s the sort of thing that needs taking care of and that’s the sort of thing they should be spending their time on – not the colour of my house.
“There are so many more things that are really pressingly important than the colour of peoples’ houses.”
Finally last week, after two years of fighting and after forking out £2,000 in planning fees, Kate and Ian were finally told their home can remain purple.
Kat explained: “It was a fabulous week. My first book, Second Spring, was published on Thursday and then we got the news about the house on Friday.
“We were just so happy, we haven’t stopped celebrating and all of our neighbours are so happy we get to keep the colour.
“Life is too short for bureaucratic nightmares like this. It was a complete waste of money – but at least our house is still lilac.”
HORSE MURAL
It comes after another man on the same street butted heads with Watford Council when he began restoring his house to how it would have been in 1900.
Ronald Dillingham, 82, installed new railings, a coach lamp and had a horse and cart professionally painted to honour the history of the greengrocers and stables which were at the property for 100 years.
But soon he had the borough council at his door telling him to get rid of the lot – because the changes were also “harmful”.
Watford council said that the changes were without planning permission – and when he applied for retrospective planning the application for the railings and light was refused.
But with the support of the community behind him, the council soon changed their minds and decided to take no further action.
The Sun has approached Watford Borough Council for comment.
