Demolition to begin on £200,000 unauthorised Captain Tom spa building as scaffolding is put up

Workers fit scaffolding ahead of works to demolish an unauthorised spa pool block at the home of Hannah Ingram-Moore, the daughter of the late Captain Sir Tom Moore, at Marston Moretaine, Bedfordshire. Picture date: Tuesday January 30, 2024. Credit: PA
Scaffolders moved on to the site on Tuesday, with demolition expected to take place over the next week. Credit: PA

Scaffolders have moved on to the site of the illegal spa block built at the home of Captain Sir Tom Moore’s daughter, as its imminent demolition draws closer.

They were seen erecting a structure on Tuesday morning around the £200,000 building, which was built without the correct permissions.

A flatbed truck arrived at the property in Marston Moretaine in Bedfordshire and drove into the grounds through a gate off a residential street at the rear of the plot.

Scaffolders, in orange hi-vis jackets, could be seen moving metal poles around the unauthorised building as work began.

A workman said: “We are putting scaffolding up today. The pool will be removed before the building is knocked down on Monday.”

Workers examine the site as preparations for demolition gather pace. Credit: PA

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 7 February, and Central Bedfordshire Council said it would be “reviewing the onsite position” the following day, on 8 February.

The building has been emptied over the past week in preparation for its demolition. Credit: PA

The deadline for the appeal decision to be challenged in the High Court passed without a claim being issued.

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 C-shaped spa sits in the grounds of the family home. Credit: PA

Central Bedfordshire 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 the spa pool had “the opportunity to offer rehabilitation sessions for elderly people in the area”.

But Ms Fleming’s written 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 subject of an investigation by the Charity Commission amid concerns about its management and independence from Sir Tom’s family.

The charity watchdog opened a case into the foundation shortly after the 100-year-old died in 2021, and launched its inquiry in June 2022.

Captain Tom became a national hero during the coronavirus pandemic, and died in February 2021. Credit: PA/Royal British Legion

Scott Stemp, representing Ms Ingram-Moore and her husband, said at the appeal hearing that the foundation “is to be closed down following an investigation by the Charity Commission”.

Sir Tom raised £38.9m for the NHS, including gift aid, by walking 100 laps of his garden before his 100th birthday, at the height of the first national Covid-19 lockdown in April 2020.

He was knighted by the late Queen during a unique open-air ceremony at Windsor Castle in the summer of that year.

He died in February 2021.

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