The owner of eccentrically painted house in a conservation area has been ordered to repaint property by court after neighbours complained to the council.
Zipporah Lisle-Mainwaring, 71, the owner of the £15m Kensington property, was told by Hammersmith Magistrates' Court that she has 28 days to paint her red and white-striped house in colours more suited to the area.
District Judge Susan Bayne said: 'Visual integrity is fundamental to the Kensington Square Conservation Area.
'Painting a property with red and white stripes, where other properties use a limited palette of muted colours, results in an adverse effect on the amenity of the area.'
The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea served Ms Lisle-Mainwaring with a section 215 Notice last April, which required her to repaint the property and make repairs to the window frames.
Ms Lisle-Mainwaring told the Evening Standard at the time that the stripes 'add to the gaiety of the nation' and would not be removed 'any time soon'.
She appealled against the council's decision asserting that a Section 215 Notice could only be used to remedy the state of repair and not to control the colour or manner that a property is painted.
But Judge Bayne upheld the council's decision and stated that 'as a matter of fact and pure common sense' serving the notice was entirely appropriate.
The judge did, however, remove the requirement that the windows be removed and replaced.
Cllr Timothy Coleridge, the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea's cabinet member for planning policy, said: 'We are very pleased the court agreed that painting a property in red and white stripes has a harmful impact on the Kensington Square Conservation Area and that issuing a Section 215 Notice was within the Royal Borough's power as the local planning authority.'
He added: 'Of course we would have preferred to resolve this matter without resort to the courts but in the end this was not possible. We expect this property will now be painted in a more suitable manner.'
