A star of BBC’s The Apprentice has been ordered to change the colour of her shop in a historic market town after she painted it yellow without planning permission.
Marianne Rawlins, 41, was told the colours were ‘harming’ the character of the Grade II-listed building in Stamford, Lincolnshire — previously named “Britain’s most picturesque town.” Marianne had given her new baby and toddler store a lick of paint after opening in St Mary’s Street last September after it had laid empty for two years.
She said the yellow colour, called cherished gold, was selected from Dulux’s heritage range while the black was chosen to match the existing Tudor beams.
However, the entrepreneur was left shocked after being told she may have to change her colour of ‘Stork of Stamford’ after the council received just a single complaint.
Because of the history of the building, which originates from the 15th to 16th Century, and its place in a conservation area, planning permission should have been sought. She has now been told to repaint the yellow shop frontage by planning bosses after a retrospective planning application proved unsuccessful.
Marianne, who made it to the final weeks in the 2019 series and presided over by Lord Sugar, said she was disappointed by the decision.
She added: “There is a pink shop and others in the town which are very clearly standing out from the rest which have been approved and accepted.
“I have trouble understanding because some of those are listed buildings too.
“It seems they have some secret magic I don’t know about.”
Mum-of-two Marianne said she also had several discussions with officers where they discussed compromises, including making the yellow colour darker.
She added: “They then came back and said ‘actually we don’t like the black’.
“If you look at Tudor-style buildings the majority have black so I don’t really understand.”
Lodging objections to the building’s new look, the town civic society told planning officers “the so-called heritage colour has a negative impact”.
Stamford Town Council added: “Yellow is not an acceptable colour in the conservation area.”
Planning officers at South Kesteven District Council echoed their views, agreeing that the colour scheme is not appropriate for the listed building.
They said historically it would have been fully rendered in a light colour on both the ground and first floor.
Marianne still plans to appeal against the decision and said she hopes “reason will prevail” although she is “100 percent happy” to make compromises.
She claims she was unaware of the complexities surrounding Stamford’s conservation until she was sent an enforcement notice last year.
Marianne, who originally spent around £2,000 painting the shop, said previously: “I’m a little surprised.
“I think we have done a great job to preserve the heritage of the building.
“The last thing we want to do is detract from the character – we tried to accentuate it more than anything else.
“It wasn’t lost on me that this building may be the one of the oldest buildings in arguably the most historically preserved town in the UK. It’s absolutely stunning.
“You have to be careful what you do as it’s a listed building, so I was careful.”
Stamford was made the first conservation area in the country in 1967 after a successful campaign by the town’s civic society, fueled by concerns about the pace of change and the need to preserve its heritage.
Around 25 years later, the Stamford Shopfront Design Guide was drawn up by the planning authority at South Kesteven District Council to ensure the heritage was retained.
The guide, which has remained unaltered since then, is a crucial document used by planning officers when considering applications.
The rules include a recommendation to use white or neutral colours on slender shopfronts, and a single colour for all the major elements of the design. However, there is no prescriptive colour chart dictating which shades are allowed.
The maximum penalty for breaking the rules is two years in prison and an unlimited fine.