Captain Tom’s daughter pulls plug on spa

CAPTAIN TOM MOORE’S daughter has had an unauthorised building demolished in the wake of a planning row.

Workers could be seen removing scaffolding at the property in Marston Moretaine in Bedfordshire yesterday. A digger then was brought in to rip off wood and other debris from the building’s roof and knock down some of its brick walls.

A crane had lifted the spa pool from the property on Friday after preparation for the demolition had started last week.

Hannah Ingram-moore and her husband, Colin, lost an appeal against an order to remove the Captain Tom Foundation Building in the grounds of their property after a hearing in October.

Inspector Diane Fleming ruled in November that the spa block must be demolished within three months, by Feb 7, and Central Bedfordshire council said it would be “reviewing the onsite position” the following day, on Feb 8.

Planning permission had been granted for an L-shaped building in the grounds of the family home – but the planning authority refused a subsequent retrospective application in 2022 for a larger C-shaped building containing a spa pool.

The council issued an enforcement notice in July 2023 requiring the demolition of the “unauthorised building” and the planning inspectorate dismissed an appeal against this.

During a hearing in October, chartered surveyor James Paynter, for the appellants, said that the spa pool had “the opportunity to offer rehabilitation sessions for elderly people in the area”. But Ms Fleming’s decision concluded the “scale and massing” of the building had resulted in harm to the Grade Ii-listed Old Rectory – the family’s home.

The foundation is the currently subject of an investigation by the Charity Commission amid concerns about its management and independence from Sir Tom’s family.