RESIDENTS living next to Captain Tom’s daughter have slammed their controversial spa complex.
Hannah Ingram-Moore built a 50ft by 20ft pool house at the family’s £1.2million home – having originally told planners they wanted an office for the charity set up in her dad’s name.
PAHannah Ingram-Moore at Central Bedfordshire Council’s offices on Tuesday[/caption]
Terry HarrisHannah showed planning officers the spa and pool complex at her family home today[/caption]
Terry HarrisThe original planning application was for offices for Captain Tom’s charity[/caption]
The family are appealing against a decision to tear it down
Talk TV.The family built a spa and pool complex in the charity’s name[/caption]
GettyCaptain Tom and his daughter Hannah celebrate his 100th birthday with an RAF flypast in April 2020[/caption]
She showed planning officials around the facility today as the family fight to stop it from being ripped down.
Hannah justified the building by claiming it will help reduce loneliness for elderly people, adding that it will help rehabilitate the local “ageing community” through coffee mornings.
Representatives made the claim at a hearing – attended by Hannah, husband Colin and son Benjie – at Central Bedfordshire Council today.
But Parish Council chairman Hugh Roberts today claimed public use of the spa was “news to us” as he blasted the veteran’s daughter.
He said: “Villagers are worried that the family’s attitude is there’s one rule that applies to us which doesn’t apply to them.
“If we build the wrong thing in the garden, we’d be told to demolish it but they feel like they don’t need to.”
Earlier, the council’s planning enforcement team leader Richard Proctor claimed the outbuilding is 49 per cent bigger and “wholly different” to the original submitted application.
Asked why the larger building “evolved” with an additional wing, chartered surveyor James Paynter said: “It was felt a larger L-shaped building could provide the space needed.
“They wanted to offer one-to-one rehabilitation sessions for elderly people in the local area once or twice a week.”
The spa space, which also includes a treadmill and exercise bike, takes up around a third of the complex.
Mr Proctor added: “It appears to be a rehabilitation centre for elderly people which is quite a significant undertaking that requires a certain degree of planning oversight.
“The problem is the suggestion that it’s there for the wider public good.
“I think that would take it out of the realms of being ancillary within the enjoyment of the dwelling.”
Scott Stemp, counsel for the Ingram-Moores and their firm Matrix Group Ltd, earlier admitted: “There’s no suggestion that the family won’t be using it.”
Vice chairman Janice Green, 76, claimed the village was “well served” for meeting hubs with two care homes, two new cafes and a church which holds weekly tea afternoons.
She added afterwards: “The problem is that they were given planning permission but what was built wasn’t what they were given permission for.”
The building was also set to hold Captain Tom memorabilia and 250k cards received after he raised £38.9m walking laps of his garden before his 100th birthday.
The initial application for a detached L-shaped building with a flat roof was changed in November 2021 to a pitched roof.
Work started in December of that year, but in March 2022 a retrospective application for a C-shaped building was submitted for The Captain Tom Foundation and personal use.
This was refused, causing the work to halt as the family appealed a demolition order in November.
Locals claim it is 1.9 metres closer to their gardens than first thought as builders made use of foundations beneath a 30-metre long disused tennis court.
Barry Shaw, of Woburn Road, said: “It’s very brutal. There’s no windows whatsoever. It completely obscures our rear views.”
It leaves a 2.9 metre gap feared to be too tight for proper landscaping despite being in the sprawling 14,500m2 grounds of the Grade II listed Old Rectory.
Annabel Robinson, senior planning officer, described the new building as “very chunky”.
He added: “It lacks elegance within the setting of a very elegant building. It does compete, I think. It’s very substantial in the setting.”
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.
Planning Inspectorate Diane Fleming, who kicked off the hearing at 10am, visited the family home and viewed the construction from nearby houses.
She will announce her decision over the building built in the name of Captain Sir Tom, who died in February 2021, within four to six weeks.
It comes as the hearing was also today told the Captain Tom Moore Foundation will close following a Charity Commision probe.
Mr Stemp said: “There isn’t… it’s no news to anybody that the Captain Tom Foundation will be closed down following the Charity Commission investigation.”
Not known, clear with picture deskHannah became emotional during a bombshell interview with Piers Morgan last week[/caption]
PANeighbour Jilly Bozdogan, whose garden backs onto the unauthorised spa pool block at the home of Hannah Ingram-Moore[/caption] Published: [#item_custom_pubDate]
