Portsmouth's Spinnaker Tower: Unwanted red paint given away

The local authority had planned to paint the tower red as part of the £3.5m deal with Emirates

One hundred litres of unwanted red paint that was due to be used on Portsmouth's Spinnaker Tower has been given away to causes in Hampshire.

The city council made a U-turn after an angry reaction to the proposed red and white colour scheme, which is synonymous with rivals Southampton.

The paint job forms part of a £3.5m sponsorship deal with airline Emirates.

The tower has instead been painted blue and gold, with the unwanted paint given to community groups.

America's Cup

Petersfield FC will use 20 litres to spruce up their grounds and stands while Fareham FC will also use 20 litres to revamp their changing rooms and toilet blocks.

In the end, the council and Emirates agreed on a blue and gold design

The Hovercraft Museum in Gosport will paint its hangar with the same amount of paint and Solent Arena, a non-profit sports facility run by volunteers, has 40 litres for building improvements.

The council and airline, which uses red and white in its logo, quickly changed their minds over the colour scheme after thousands of people signed a petition opposing the move.

A revised design was published using blue - the traditional colour of the city of Portsmouth and its football team - but Emirates had already spent thousands of pounds on more than 100 litres of red paint.

The tower will be renamed the Emirates Spinnaker Tower in time for the America's Cup World Series event, with branding in place for five years.