Captain Tom Moore‘s daughter’s illegal spa has been stripped back to a shell after demolishers started ripping the roof off the £200,000 complex – leaving Hannah Ingram-Moore in ‘humiliation’.
New photos show a leg of the complex in Marston Moretaine, Bedfordshire, with no roof or flooring while building materials are piled up to one side of the building.
Neighbours yesterday revealed their relief that the unauthorised luxury spa is finally being taken down – calling it a ‘humiliation’ for the daughter.
One local, whose home is overlooked by the spa, said: ‘It is a humiliation for Hannah. I think she thought she could get away with it. I wonder if they will move when it is all over.’
New drone footage shows the spa completely stripped bare with large holes in the walls and surrounded by piles of bricks and ceiling beams.
The family lost an appeal against Central Bedfordshire Council to keep their spa complex after a planning inspector ruled it was ‘at odds’ with their Grade ll listed home.
Mr and Mrs Ingram-Moore had been given permission to make a Captain Tom Foundation Building in their garden to store cards and gifts sent by admirers, but they added a sauna and spa, which were not part of the original plans.
Central Bedfordshire Council issued an enforcement notice last July to demolish the ‘unauthorised building’ and their appeal was dismissed last November.
Inspector Diane Fleming ruled in November that the spa block must be demolished within three months, by February 7, and Central Bedfordshire Council said it would be ‘reviewing the onsite position’ the following day, on February 8.
The deadline for the appeal decision to be challenged in the High Court passed without a claim being issued.
Demolition experts were also spotted outside the property on Tuesday.
Onlookers said new scaffolding could be seen covering the whole structure in the grounds of Ms Ingram-Moore’s £1.2m mansion. Scaffolders, in orange hi-vis jackets, could be seen moving metal poles around.
And last week two men and women were seen emptying out the spa with boxes full of photos and prints.
Villagers, who have described it as a ‘long drawn-out saga’ and say Hannah ‘thought she was going to get away with it,’ are pleased the so-called ‘eyesore’ is on its way out.
Sue Martindale, 60, said: ‘They live in a big house and they thought they could get away with it. The deserve what they have got.’
Demolition and dismantling experts C. Jackson and Sons of Bedford appear to have been employed to do the work. Their van has been parked up outside the property in Marston Moretaine, Bedfordshire.
Neighbour Jilly Bozdogan, 70, said this week: ‘The tiles are coming off fast and furious. I am glad they are finally getting on with it. It has been a long drawn-out saga.
‘My garden backs onto it and it is an eyesore. I have had to plant trees to try to block it out.’
Neighbour Richard Gough, 68, said he heard one of the workmen throwing the tiles down from the roof first thing this morning. Though he said: ‘They are not really making much noise. They just seem to be getting on with it.’
His wife Lesley, 67, added: ‘It was not nice for the people who live next to the building. There were trees there before and a tennis court.
‘It is a shame they let it go on for so long. I think they thought they could get away with it.
‘Captain Tom was so popular. His legacy has got lost. He did all those good things and people aren’t talking about that anymore.’
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Katherine Lawton
