Short answer
Usually a planning authority, and less often with a colour chart than people assume. The rules read for this page fix colour in four ways: by requiring a material, by naming a palette as a protected attribute, by an ordinance clause describing an appearance, or by case-by-case judgement with written advice. None of them publishes its colours as measured values. Where a precise reference does enter the process, it is the applicant who supplies it.
The oldest kind of control specifies what a wall is made of. Jerusalem's requirement that buildings be faced with local stone is dated to 1918 and the military governorship of Ronald Storrs, as part of a plan by William McLean; a later plan proposed architectural easements on the use of stone in particular areas. Since 'Jerusalem stone' covers limestones from white to pink, yellow and tawny, the rule yields a family of colours and no fixed shade. Bath works differently but to similar effect: its World Heritage management plan lists the visual homogeneity created by local oolitic limestone, 'a limited palette of colour tones' and uniform building heights as an attribute carrying the site's Outstanding Universal Value.
A management plan is not a by-law. Listing the palette as an attribute tells decision-makers what must be protected; the decisions are still taken through ordinary planning.
Santa Fe regulates the look itself. Its historic ordinance was first written in 1957 by the architect John Gaw Meem and others, and a university study describes the present code section as very similar. A 2009 amendment adding design standards for state building projects in the historic districts shows the drafting: the publicly visible façade is generally to be of one colour and no more than three, and is to 'simulate a light earth or dark earth colour', matte or dull in finish, with white or contrasting colours allowed under portales. The word 'simulate' is the telling one. The rule preserves the appearance of adobe, including on buildings not built of earth.
Many authorities decline to publish a palette. Babergh and Mid Suffolk's guidance, in its 2025 edition, says the heritage team has no set list of acceptable and unacceptable colours and decides on the circumstances: the building, its neighbours, whether an area is characterised by particular tones. It adds that most buildings have changed colour many times and that stronger, darker and more vibrant colours are normally best avoided. The Pembrokeshire Coast National Park's leaflet is advisory throughout: use lime-based or microporous paints, creams or pastels in towns, whites, yellows or pinks in the countryside, off-white for windows, and respect the farmstead hierarchy.
In the documents read for this page, colours are named in words — earth, cream, pastel, a limited palette. The one place a formal colour reference appears is on the applicant's side: Suffolk's change-of-paint form asks for details of existing and proposed colours with the manufacturer's details or RAL numbers of the proposed paints. Italian municipalities go further, with colour plans that pair historical research with a defined palette, a practice dating from the late 1970s; those plans were not read in the original for this page. So the usual position is that the authority holds the judgement and the applicant holds the notation.
Fixing a colour by rule also fixes a date. Willemstad's colours follow an 1817 prohibition of white. Santa Fe's earth tones are a twentieth-century decision about what the city should look like. Suffolk's guidance is frank that buildings have been repainted in different colours many times and that evidence for their historic colours is limited. Scotland's heritage body notes that the bare rubble now protected in many places was once harled and limewashed. A regulation tends to protect the appearance at the time it was written, which may itself be a recent layer.
It is easy to overstate how controlled colour is. In England, painting the outside of a building is permitted development unless the right has been withdrawn locally or the building is listed, so most repainting needs no permission. Pembrokeshire's leaflet says formal consent is needed for development, and otherwise relies on persuasion. Even where control exists it is usually exercised through advice and negotiation with an individual owner. Anyone describing a place as having 'regulated colours' should be able to name the instrument, its date and what it actually says — which is what the table below records, along with what was not read.
| Place | Scope | What the rule or guidance says | Kind of control | Limit of what was read |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bath | The City of Bath World Heritage Site. | Management Plan 2024–2030: visual homogeneity from local oolitic limestone and 'a limited palette of colour tones' listed as an attribute of Outstanding Universal Value | Management attribute | A management plan, not a colour schedule; individual decisions are made through planning. |
| Jerusalem | External walls of buildings in the municipality. | Requirement to face buildings with local stone, dated to Ronald Storrs in 1918 | Material requirement | The date and wording come from a reference work; the by-law text and its later amendments were not read. |
| Santa Fe, New Mexico | State capital outlay projects in the historic districts, under Section 14-5.2(M) added by Ordinance 2009-46. | Façades generally of one colour and no more than three, simulating a light earth or dark earth colour with a matte or dull finish | Ordinance clause | One amending ordinance read in full; the consolidated code and the review board's approved colours were not. |
| England | Unlisted buildings without an article 4 direction. | Exterior painting is permitted development under the 2015 General Permitted Development Order unless the right has been removed | National default | Not planning advice; the position for any one building depends on local designations. |
| Babergh and Mid Suffolk | Listed buildings in two Suffolk districts; guidance dated October 2025. | No set list of acceptable colours; each change judged on the building, its neighbours and the conservation area | Case-by-case guidance | Guidance for two districts; neighbouring authorities may differ. |
| Pembrokeshire Coast National Park | Advice to owners of traditional buildings; leaflet dated August 2009. | Advice to use lime-based or microporous paints in traditional colours: creams or pastels in towns; whites, yellows or pinks in the countryside | Advisory leaflet | Advisory. The leaflet says formal consent is needed for development, not for every repaint. |
| Italy | Municipalities that have adopted a piano del colore. | Municipal colour plans combining historical research with a palette and repainting rules | Municipal colour plan | Each plan is local and none was read in the original for this dataset. |
Each statement is labelled by kind — established fact, a standard’s requirement, observed market data, a convention, or Colourwise’s own interpretation or analysis — with the strength of the evidence behind it.
StandardStrong evidence· Bath, United Kingdom· Plan period 2024–2030
The Bath World Heritage Sites Management Plan 2024–2030 lists among the attributes of Outstanding Universal Value the visual homogeneity of the city due to widespread use of local oolitic (Bath) limestone, a limited palette of colour tones and the uniform scale and height of buildings.
Caveat: A management plan attribute, not a statutory colour schedule; no colour values are given.
Source: Combined City of Bath and Great Spa Towns of Europe World Heritage Sites Management Plan 2024–2030
StandardStrong evidence· Santa Fe, New Mexico, United States· As adopted in 2009
Section 14-5.2(M) of Santa Fe's city code, added by Ordinance 2009-46 for state capital outlay projects in the historic districts, requires the publicly visible façade to be generally of one colour and no more than three, simulating a light earth or dark earth colour with a matte or dull finish.
Caveat: One amending ordinance as adopted in 2009; the consolidated code and any later amendment were not read.
Source: City of Santa Fe Ordinance No. 2009-46 (amending Section 14-5.2 SFCC 1987, Historic Districts)
FactModerate evidence· Santa Fe, New Mexico, United States
Santa Fe's historic ordinance was first written in 1957 by John Gaw Meem and other citizens, and the present Article 14-5.2 is described as very similar to it.
Caveat: From a graduate research paper; the 1957 text was not read.
StandardStrong evidence· Babergh and Mid Suffolk, England· Guidance, 3rd edition, October 2025
Babergh and Mid Suffolk's heritage team keeps no set list of acceptable colours and decides each case on its circumstances; proposals to repaint in a different colour or paint type are submitted on a form with the manufacturer's details or RAL numbers of the proposed paints.
Source: Conservation Advice: Limewash and Paints (3rd edition)
FactModerate evidence· Jerusalem
Jerusalem's requirement that buildings be faced with local stone is dated to 1918 and the military governorship of Ronald Storrs, as part of a city plan by William McLean.
Caveat: Date and attribution from a reference work; the by-law's wording and its later amendments were not read. The academic source confirms the planning context, not the date.
Source: Jerusalem stone; The Dynamics of Cities: Comparative Spatial Analysis in the Planning of Jerusalem
Colourwise interpretationLimited evidence
None of the rules and guidance documents read for this page publishes its permitted colours as measured values or colour-system references; they describe colours in words.
Based on: A reading of the four primary documents listed, each read in full or in the relevant section. Italian colour plans do define palettes.
Caveat: Four documents from three countries; authorities elsewhere do publish colour schedules, and none of those was read for this review.
Source: Combined City of Bath and Great Spa Towns of Europe World Heritage Sites Management Plan 2024–2030; City of Santa Fe Ordinance No. 2009-46 (amending Section 14-5.2 SFCC 1987, Historic Districts); Conservation Advice: Limewash and Paints (3rd edition); Traditional Pembrokeshire Buildings: Exterior Colour Schemes
Reviewed 6 October 2026. Colourwise summarises its sources in its own words and does not reproduce standards text or proprietary colour data. Spotted an error? Tell us.