Captain Tom’s daughter Hannah Ingram-Moore is fighting orders to demolish the spa after she “built it on behalf of a hero’s charity”.
CAPTAIN Tom’s daughter is fighting to keep the pool and spa complex she built in her father’s name after she was ordered to tear it down.
Hannah Ingram-Moore, 52, and husband Colin have been accused of using the lockdown fundraiser’s name to build the 50ft by 20ft pool house complete with changing rooms, toilets and showers.
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The couple told planners they wanted to set up an office for the Captain Tom Foundation in their £1.2million home.
But The Sun revealed they then built the unauthorized spa and pool complex in their backyard, which Hannah and Colin had to demolish.
Bedfordshire Council confirmed in a statement that the couple are appealing the order.
They said, “An enforcement order was issued requiring the demolition of the now unlicensed building.”
“And this can now be appealed to the Planning Inspectorate.”
Plans for the L-shaped building at the seven-bed villa in Marston Moretaine were given the go-ahead in 2021.
They had applied for planning on their own behalf – but used the foundation’s name in the design, access and monument declaration.
The statement described how the building would be used in part “in connection with the Captain Tom Foundation and its charitable purposes.”
A subsequent 2022 retrospective application – targeted after some construction has already begun – to add a spa pool to the C-shaped building was rejected by the planning authority.
This was dubbed “The Captain Tom Building” and described as “a new building for the use of the occupying forces”, also known as Hannah and Colin.
The Captain Tom Foundation is no longer receiving donations due to an ongoing investigation by the Charity Commission.
A spokesman said: “At this point, the Captain Tom Foundation’s sole focus is to ensure it is fully cooperating with the ongoing legal investigation by the Charity Commission.”
“For this reason, the Captain Tom Foundation is not actively soliciting funds at this time.”
The charity’s trustees have also spoken out against the complex, insisting they have been kept in the dark.
The trustees said: “The independent trustees of the Captain Tom Foundation were at no time aware of the building permits which Mr. and Mrs. Ingram-Moore allegedly had granted on behalf of the foundation.
“Had they been aware of any applications, the independent trustees would not have approved them.”
Captain Tom lifted spirits during the Corona crisis by strolling through his garden in the run-up to his 100th birthday.
He raised nearly £39million for the NHS.
The WWII veteran was knighted, honored with an RAF flypast and given 225,000 100th birthday cards.
He died of Covid in February 2021.
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