THE bright pink door at Dunbar’s fashion school is here to stay, after finally getting the green light from East Lothian Council.

Complaints were made to the local authority last year after the door of Castellau House was transformed from a dark brown into fuchsia pink.

Jacqui Burke, from Jacqui Burke’s Fashion School, then had to apply for retrospective planning permission for the building, on the town’s Belhaven Road.

Now, Jacqui, who opened the fashion school last year, has been left delighted by the decision to allow the bright colour to remain in place.

She said: “I think whoever complained about it, it backfired on them because there was a lot of controversy.” The issue attracted hundreds of comments on social media, with many feeling the splash of colour had helped transform the former library into a fashion school.

Jacqui added: “I don’t know who it was that complained but I think there were a couple of people.

“There was a really obnoxious man who told one of the students that it was ‘a vile colour’.” However, the fashion designer felt that the new colour brightened up the area and was appropriate for the building, which is B-listed.

The social enterprise was set up to teach students the art of designing and manufacturing couture garments.

She added: “It’s a really happy place and everybody loves it.

“The students are doing a lot of good work.” Since opening, dozens of students have walked through the door and become involved in a variety of projects, including the recent performance of Grease at Dunbar Grammar School.

Jacqui, who has designed outfits for world-famous singers such as Cher and Gloria Estefan, explained that things were moving forward.

She said they had been teaching valuable skills to men, women and children aged between six and 80.

And she added that the fashion school, which will again be home to dozens of students after the summer break, was more than a sewing club.

She added: “There is a bit for everything.

“We’ve worked with people aged between six and 80 plus, men and women and from all different walks of life.

“Everybody likes to express themselves through clothes.

“The fashion school is very mathematical – it is like technical drawing.

“You get people saying they thought they were coming to a sewing club but it is more like a geometry class.”