Three Cheers For The Order To Level The 'Captain Tom' Spa

In an age when standards in life have plumbed fresh depths, when so much of our national and local government bureaucracy has seized up, and when so much of our built heritage is being neglected, the planning officers of Central Bedfordshire Council have set the nation a fine example of how to do the right thing.

- SEAN O'GRADY

Working in conjunction with the Planning Inspectorate, a low-profile but high-quality arm of the state, they have ordered that the luxury spa complex unlawfully built by Captain Tom’s daughter and son-in-law on the old boy’s property must be torn down.

I wonder if, perhaps, Hannah Ingram-Moore and her husband thought that “changing the facts on the ground” and erecting the building would present the council with a fait accompli, and the (former) prestige of her late father’s name and his foundation would persuade the council to turn a blind eye to this blatant abuse of the system. How wrong this seemingly entitled and arrogant couple were.