Subject: RE: FORMAL DISCLOSURE NOTICE & LITIGATION HOLD: Historic Significance, Planning Approvals, and Displaced Family Tenancy Records for Great House Farm, Llandough (FOIA/EIR Request)
From: FOI Unit
Direction: received
Date: Mon, 01 Jun 2026 13:51 UTC
Institution: Vale of Glamorgan Council
Refs: none
Archive id: gm-19e8374b277f1126
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Dear Mr Buckler
Thank you for the below. We note its contents in relation to Freedom of Information however, we wrote to you (copy attached) seeking clarification on a previous request received by you which relates to the same matter.
We are unable to progress your request until this clarification has been received.
Kind regards
Information Governance Officer / Swyddog Llywodraethu Gwybodaeth
Director's Office - Resources / Swyddfa’r Cyfarwyddwr - Adnoddau
Vale of Glamorgan Council / Cyngor Bro Morgannwg
tel / ffôn: [phone redacted]
e-mail / e-bost: [email redacted] or [email redacted]<[email redacted]>
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From: Sion Buckler <[email redacted]>
Sent: 29 May 2026 19:48
To: Glamro / Swyddfa Cofnodion Morgannwg <[email redacted]>
Subject: FORMAL DISCLOSURE NOTICE & LITIGATION HOLD: Historic Significance, Planning Approvals, and Displaced Family Tenancy Records for Great House Farm, Llandough (FOIA/EIR Request)
LEGAL NOTICE TO RECIPIENTS:
Take notice that this request is issued in anticipation of formal legal proceedings and the filing of an official report regarding systemic institutional fraud, land misconduct, and the unlawful concealment of historic preservation data. You are under a strict legal duty to preserve all physical and electronic records, metadata, correspondence, maps, and erased files relating to this site. Any spoliation, deletion, or withholding of data will be cited in subsequent court filings.
Dear Freedom of Information Officer,
RE: Information Request under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 and the Environmental Information Regulations 2004
I am writing to request access to historical records, internal correspondence, planning briefs, and assessments held by your organization regarding Great House Farm, Llandough, near Penarth/Cardiff (demolished December 1988), and the historical occupancy of the Buckler family.
Statutory Mandate on Accessibility & Charging Fees:
I am aware that previous attempts to locate this data have resulted in directives to visit physical archives in person or use paywalled, commercial third-party web portals. Please be advised of the following statutory obligations:
1. Under EIR Regulation 8, fees cannot act as an unreasonable barrier or deterrent to access. Because my family was historically displaced from this site and I am executing this request remotely, forcing physical attendance or demanding payment constitutes an unlawful obstacle.
2. Public authorities are required to supply information in the format requested. I require all documents to be delivered digitally via email attachment or secure electronic download link, free of charge, as specified by the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) guidelines for data already held electronically.
Please provide all recorded information matching the following points:
1. Tenant/Ownership Identification and the 1880 Report
* Any documents, archival notes, or registry indexes citing the William/ Buckler family line (who occupied and farmed the house across four generations).
* Clarification on whether my family members were formally cited as the legal owners, long-term tenants, or registered reporters of the 1880 discovery under the dining room floor.
* Any explicit records indicating gaps, deleted metadata, or missing volumes in your authority’s archive concerning the tenancy, land-dispute maps, or agricultural heritage of Great House Farm between 1950 and 1989.
2. Statutory Protection and Cadw’s Assessments
* Given that the site's extreme archaeological value (a 1st-to-4th-century Roman precursor villa and a massive early medieval monastic settlement) was verified by rescue operations as early as 1979, what are the recorded reasons why Cadw failed to place a statutory Schedule or Protection Order on the standing fabric of Great House Farm before its demolition?
* All internal correspondence, risk assessments, or ministerial briefs evaluating the preservation value of the sub-medieval direct-entry farmhouse core before it was levelled.
3. Planning Approvals and Local Authority Governance
* All minutes, planning committee files, and consultation responses from the local authority that granted planning permission and housing development rights on this specific acreage.
* Direct information explaining how the council approved planning permission for a private housing development in light of the documented historical evidence surrounding the immediate parish boundary.
4. Institutional Concealment and Historical "Ignorance"
* Records showing exactly where and at what stage of the planning process this archaeological evidence should have been brought up but was not, which ultimately allowed developers and public bodies to claim they were unaware of the land's deep significance until after the farmhouse was destroyed and housing development began.
* Any environmental impact assessments, historic environment register (HER) lookups, or developer briefs filed between 1980 and 1990 regarding the footprint of Great House Farm.
If any part of this request is refused under the guise of commercial sensitivity or archival limitations, you are required by law to state the exact statutory exemption applied and provide a formal internal review pathway.
I expect your response within the statutory 20-working-day timeframe.
Kind regards,
Sion Buckler (Ret'd Sergeant)
[address redacted], Dinas Powys, Vale of Glamorgan
Dear Sion Buckler
We write further in relation to your request for information, referenced above.
The relevant service area have requested we ask the below. We would be grateful if you could provide some clarification on the following point(s):
Please can we ask for a plan showing the locations? We have found great house farm but the request includes Ty Mawr / Great House Estate and we are not clear the extent of the site being queried.
This will help us to identify and locate the information you are seeking and ensure we provide you with the most relevant response.
Please note that the statutory response deadline is paused while we await your clarification. Once we receive your response, we will resume processing your request.
If we do not hear from you within [e.g. 2 months], we may consider the request closed
Yours sincerely,
Information Governance Officer/ Swyddog Llywodraethu Gwybodaeth
Director's Office - Resources / Swyddfa'r Cyfarwyddwr - Adnoddau
Vale of Glamorgan Council / Cyngor Bro Morgannwg
tel / ffôn: [phone redacted]
e-mail / e-bost: [email redacted]<[email redacted]> or [email redacted]<[email redacted]>
Consider the environment. Please don't print this e-mail unless you really need to.
Ystyriwch yr amgylchedd. Peidiwch ag argraffu'r neges hon oni bai fod gwir angen.
Visit our Website at www.valeofglamorgan.gov.uk
Ewch i'n gwefan yn www.bromorgannwg.gov.uk
Find us on Facebook / Cewch ddod o hyd i ni ar Facebook
Follow us on Twitter /Dilynwch ni ar Twitter
Correspondence is welcomed in Welsh or English / Croesewir Gohebiaeth yn y Gymraeg neu yn Saesneg.