'COMPLETE EYESORE'
We live next to Captain Tom’s daughter & we’re furious charity office was never built – her spa complex must come down
FURIOUS neighbours of Captain Tom's daughter have told how the spa complex built in his name needs to be torn down.
Hannah Ingram-Moore, 52, and husband Colin have been accused of using the hero fundraiser's name to build the 50ft by 20ft pool house equipped with changing rooms, toilets and showers.
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The couple told planners they wanted an office for The Captain Tom Foundation at their £1.2million home.
But The Sun revealed they then built the unauthorised spa and pool complex in their garden, which Hannah and Colin have now been ordered to tear down.
Their neighbours in Marston Moretaine have backed the council's decision as they accused the couple of never building the office they claimed they were planning.
Some locals also branded the building "ugly" and a "complete eyesore", while one resident even launched a petition to get the building knocked down.
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One couple, who asked not to be named. said: "That was never built. The building work was ongoing from about 2021 to recently, it's all started slowing down.
"They probably will be back but all they've got left to do is the cladding - at the moment it's just exposed brick.
"However, it's never been just offices or just the L-shaped building they asked for, it's always been what it is now."
One of the neighbours, whose gardens back onto the couple's house, said: "My boundary does actually overlap slightly with theirs but I wasn't included on the original plans or notified at all.
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"I only found out when I saw the foundations being laid and they were much bigger and deeper than any plans that I then saw. The original L-shaped offices were never built, it has only ever been that building that is there now.
"It's a really huge estate, about three acres in total I think. The building is much closer to the walls and boundary than we ever thought.
"I can't see anything going on inside though or people going in and out as there are no windows at all, so when I'm in the garden all I can see is brick in front of me rather than the church which was in view behind it."
Bedfordshire Council confirmed the couple are appealing against the order to demolish the annex in a statement.
They said: "An enforcement notice requiring the demolition of the now-unauthorised building was issued.
"And this is now subject to an appeal to the Planning Inspectorate."
Plans for the L-shaped building at the seven-bed mansion in Marston Moretaine were given the green light in 2021.
They 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.
The Captain Tom Foundation is no longer receiving donations amid an ongoing investigation by the Charity Commission.
A spokesperson said: "At this moment in time, the sole focus of The Captain Tom Foundation is to ensure that it cooperates fully with the ongoing Statutory Inquiry by the Charity Commission.
"As a result, The Captain Tom Foundation is not presently actively seeking any funding from donors."
The charity's trustees have also spoken out against the complex - insisting they were left in the dark.
The trustees said: “At no time were The Captain Tom Foundation’s independent trustees aware of planning permissions made by Mr and Mrs Ingram-Moore purporting to be in the foundation’s name.
"Had they been aware of any applications, the independent trustees would not have authorised them.”
Capt Tom lifted spirits during the first Covid lockdown by walking laps of his garden in the run-up to his 100th birthday.
He raised almost £39million for the NHS.
The WW2 veteran was knighted, honoured with an RAF flypast and received 225,000 100th birthday cards.
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He died of Covid in February 2021.
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