Pool hoisted out of spa block at home of Captain Tom's family

A spa pool installed in an unauthorised building at the home of Captain Sir Tom Moore’s daughter has been lifted out by crane.

Pictures showed the tub, chained up to a yellow crane, as it was hoisted up through the open roof of the block by a team of scaffolders, on Friday afternoon.

Workers, who arrived at the property in Marston Moretaine in Bedfordshire on Tuesday, removed a section of the roof the following day.

Hannah Ingram-Moore and her husband, Colin, were granted planning permission for an L-shaped building in the grounds of the family home in 2021.

But a further application the following year for a larger, C-shaped, building containing a spa pool was not approved.

Central Bedfordshire Council ordered the demolition of the “unauthorised building” last July.

In October, the council’s planning inspectorate rejected their appeal against the order to remove what they had named the Captain Tom Foundation Building on the grounds of their property.

The following month, an inspector ruled the spa block must be demolished by 7 February, as it had damaged the grade II-listed family home.

Central Bedfordshire Council said it would be “reviewing the onsite position” the day after.

At the October hearing, chartered surveyor James Paynter, for the family, said the spa pool could “offer rehabilitation sessions for elderly people in the area”.

But inspector Diane Fleming’s written decision concluded the “scale and massing” of the building had harmed Old Rectory.

The foundation is under investigation by the Charity Commission amid concerns about its management and independence from Sir Tom’s family.

In 2022, the charity watchdog launched an inquiry after opening a case into the foundation shortly after Captain Tom died in 2021.

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”.

Be the first to get Breaking News

Install the Sky News app for free

It comes exactly three years after the death of the former soldier, who raised almost £40m for the NHS during lockdown by walking up and down the garden of his home.

Sir Tom, who died on 2 February 2021, walked 100 laps of his garden before his 100th birthday, at the height of the first national COVID-19 lockdown in April 2020.

The celebrated fundraiser was knighted by the late Queen during a unique open-air ceremony at Windsor Castle in 2020.

Read Entire Article