Captain Tom Moore’s family have defended the construction of an oversized spa pool complex in their home that has been earmarked for demolition, saying it could provide rehabilitation sessions for elderly people.
A council appeal hearing on Tuesday heard how Hannah Ingram-Moore and her husband, Colin, applied in 2021 for permission to build a Captain Tom Foundation building in the grounds of their Bedfordshire home.
An L-shaped building was approved but the couple opted to build a larger C-shaped building containing a spa pool instead. When they submitted a retrospective application in 2022, the planning authority refused.
Central Bedfordshire council requested the demolition of the “now-unauthorised building”, against which the family have appealed.
Ingram-Moore, her husband and their son sat behind their four representatives as the inspector, Diane Fleming, appointed by the secretary of state, heard the appeal in the Central Bedfordshire council chamber.
About six neighbours attended the meeting, with one arguing that the building was “49% bigger than what was consented” and was close to his property, adding: “It’s very brutal.”
The chartered surveyor James Paynter, for the appellants, said the scheme had “evolved” to include the spa pool.
He said: “It was felt that a larger building could provide this extra space for this extra facility going forward. The spa pool has the opportunity to offer rehabilitation sessions for elderly people in the area.
“They want to offer one-to-one sessions, only on a once or twice per week basis. They felt this extra limb to create a C-shape was needed to create this facility.”
In a written appeal statement, Ingram-Moore said the heights of the approved and built buildings were the same.
A document supporting the initial planning application for an L-shaped building said it would be used partly “in connection with the Captain Tom Foundation and its charitable objectives”.
The barrister Scott Stemp, for the appellants, said the C-shaped building was unfinished but would have the “appearance of a subservient building”, meaning it would not overwhelm the design of the original house. He said it was up to the inspector to assess “the difference between the consented scheme and the as-built scheme”.
Fleming noted that the built structure included a spa pool and “the council says if that balancing exercise was carried out again, the balance would be different”.
She said she would make a site visit, accompanied by representatives for the appellants and the council, and would publish a written decision within weeks of the one-day hearing.
Moore raised £38.9m for the NHS, including Gift Aid, by walking 100 laps of his garden before his 100th birthday at the height of the first national Covid-19 lockdown in April 2020. He died in February 2021.
