Captain Tom Moore's family face knocking down spa after losing planning appeal

Captain Tom Moore's family has lost an appeal against a planning decision which ordered them to demolish a spa building in the grounds of their home.

The World War Two veteran's daughter, Hannah Ingram-Moore, and her husband, Colin Ingram, had appealed against the order by Central Bedfordshire Council.

Captain Tom won the heart of the nation in 2020 when he raised millions of pounds for the NHS by walking 100 laps of his garden during the first Covid lockdown.

His family had argued the spa pool built at their home was to help elderly people and would not commit to knocking it down.

The Planning Inspectorate has dismissed the family's appeal after a hearing in October. The appeal decision can, however, be challenged in the High Court.

Inspector Diane Fleming said the scale and massing of the partially-built building resulted in harm to The Old Rectory, the family home, and a Grade II listed building in Marston Moretaine.

The building was originally built with planning permission under the name of the Captain Tom Foundation, but an extension was added without seeking the go ahead from council planners.

Central Bedfordshire turned down retrospective planning permission and ordered the family to tear down the structure which neighbours had described as an "eyesore".

The Ingram-Moores appealed against that decision, but the Planning Inspectorate rejected the appeal on Tuesday (November 7).

Inspector Fleming argued at the appeal that when the council issued the demolition notice in November 2022, the then C-shaped building on a disused tennis court was "substantially complete".

Chartered surveyor James Paynter, for the appellants, said the scheme had then "evolved" to include the spa pool.

He told the appeal panel: "It was felt that a larger building could provide this extra space for this extra facility going forward. The spa pool has the opportunity to offer rehabilitation sessions for elderly people in the area.

"They want to offer one-to-one sessions, only on a once or twice per week basis. They felt this extra limb to create a C-shape was needed to create this facility."

Richard Proctor, Planning Enforcement Team Leader at Central Bedfordshire Council, said the tennis court wasn’t ideal but it was significantly less harmful than the building.

He argued the original building was approved because of public good outweighing harm, but added: "There hasn’t been any information provided to the council about the use of the spa."

The inspector told the panel the council had said if a balancing exercise was carried out again the result would be different.

The Planning Inspectorate's appeal decision means the family has three months to tear the building down after the demolition notice was upheld.

Central Bedfordshire's enforcement notice was upheld with some variations. Planning permission was also refused for the building.

Inspector Fleming said it had not been shown there was "unacceptable" harm to the character and appearance of the area or to local residents' outlook.

But she added: "The scale and massing of the building has resulted in harm to The Old Rectory which I find suggested conditions would not overcome. I therefore conclude that the appeal... fails."

The inspector's decision said: "I accept that the appellant's intentions are laudable; however, it has not been demonstrated in any detail how all of this would work in practice.

"In the absence of any substantiated information, I find the suggested public benefit would therefore not outweigh the great weight to be given to the harm to the heritage asset."

Mrs Ingram-Moore and Mr Moore have been approached for comment.

The couple admitted mistakes were made during an interview with Piers Morgan on TalkTV in October, but said the building was going to store some of Captain Tom's things and would also be a community building to help elderly locals.

Their son, Benji, told TalkTV the family did not use charity funds to pay for the spa, adding: "Hindsight, we shouldn't have called it the Captain Tom Foundation building.

"It slipped through the net and that is a responsibility that we take, but never once did we use money from the Foundation."

Family members also said they had been the target of hate mail, with Mr Ingram telling TalkTV: "I think it's just disgusting. I mean, it's been horrendous."