DEMOLITION work finally appears to have begun on Captain Tom Moore’s family’s luxury spa complex.
Workmen were seen arriving at the home in Marston Moretaine, Bedfordshire, today.
SplashWorkmen were seen arriving at the home today[/caption]
Hannah Ingram-Moore has been ordered to tear down the spa
GettyThe spa (right) was built illegally next to Hannah’s £1.2million mansion (left)[/caption]
It comes after Hannah Ingram-Moore and her husband had six weeks to try to save the “unauthorised” building after losing a court case in October.
The deadline for a judicial review passed last month – with the family failing to launch an appeal.
This means the £200,000 complex will be demolished by February 7.
Hannah and husband Colin had battled to overturn a council decision to tear down the complex.
The Planning Inspectorate previously ruled the building will have to be come down in three months as it was built illegally at their £1.2million mansion.
Inspector Diane Fleming said the “scale and massing” of the building had “resulted in harm” to The Old Rectory – the Grade II listed family home in Marston Moretaine, Bedfordshire.
As well as tearing the spa down, the family will need to remove all building materials and restore the land to its “former condition”.
Hannah and her husband had initially received permission from Central Bedfordshire Council to build a small charity office for the Captain Tom Foundation.
Plans for the L-shaped building at the seven-bed mansion in Marston Moretaine were given the green light in 2021.
Hannah and husband Colin had applied in their own names for planning — but used the foundation’s name in the design and access and heritage statement.
The statement claimed the building was to be used partly “in connection with The Captain Tom Foundation and its charitable objectives”.
A subsequent 2022 retrospective application – which is sought after something has already been built – to extend the originally approved building to form a C-shape, containing a spa pool, was refused by the planning authority.
The structure was referred to as The Captain Tom Building and described as “a new building for use by the occupiers”, aka Hannah and Colin.
Hannah and Colin then created a poolhouse with changing rooms, toilets and showers to sit alongside their £1.2million home.
The court heard this later “evolved” to include the spa pool.
Chartered surveyor James Paynter, speaking for the family, suggested it could be used for “rehabilitation sessions for elderly people in the area”.
But Richard Proctor, Planning Enforcement Team Leader, said: “The Council’s position is that the building is wholly different to the application.”
The court was also told the Captain Tom Foundation will be shut down when a probe by the Charity Commission is over.
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