Captain Tom’s family lose appeal against demolition order for spa complex

The family of Captain Sir Tom Moore have lost a planning application appeal against the demolition of an unauthorised spa complex in their garden.

Moore’s daughter, Hannah Ingram-Moore, and her husband, Colin, appealed against a demolition order by Central Bedfordshire council for what they have called the Captain Tom Building in the grounds of their Bedfordshire home.

They were given planning permission for an L-shaped building but instead built a larger C-shaped one containing a spa pool. When they submitted a retrospective application in 2022 for the partially built structure, the planning authority refused it.

After a hearing last month, the Planning Inspectorate has dismissed the family’s appeal, saying the “scale and massing” of the building “resulted in harm” to the Old Rectory, the Grade II-listed building where the family live in Marston Moretaine.

A document supporting the initial planning application said the building would be used partly “in connection with the Captain Tom Foundation and its charitable objectives”.

After the pool and sauna were added to the building, the family said they wanted to use it to offer rehabilitation sessions for elderly people in the area.

Moore’s family have come under increasing scrutiny in recent months over their handling of the late fundraiser’s legacy. He raised £38.9m for the NHS by walking 100 laps of his garden before his 100th birthday at the height of the first national Covid-19 lockdown in April 2020.

In an interview with Piers Morgan on TalkTV last month, Ingram-Moore said she had kept £800,000 from books that the late army veteran had written, saying he had wanted them to retain the profits.

The Captain Tom Foundation has been under investigation by the Charity Commission for more than a year in relation to potential conflicts of interest between the charity and businesses owned by the Ingram-Moores as well as concerns over mismanagement and compliance with charity law.