[Recovered on 19 Oct 2026 from the original email in the family's Gmail, because this archive file was missing. Matched to this entry by its subject line; where several emails share a subject, the order within the group is not certain. Email addresses, phone numbers and private addresses are redacted.] Subject: Great House Farm, Llandough From: Sion Buckler Date: Fri, 28 Aug 2026 22:57 UTC ------------------------------------------------------------ Good Sirs, I'm writing to you both as elected representatives because, frankly, the institutional dysfunction I am uncovering is becoming quite extraordinary. My family — including the last remaining members of my dispossessed Welsh family in South Wales — have spent 38 years living with the consequences of what happened to our home and land. They have been frightened into silence, while the institutions responsible for safeguarding justice, heritage and public accountability appear, time and again, to have preferred discretion, obfuscation and exquisitely worded emails to the rather unfashionable concept of actually answering the questions. I have now spent considerable time reconstructing what happened. The deeper I dig, the more the story appears to unravel. We were not merely separated from a house. We were separated from ancestral land, family history and heritage. And now the woodland on that land is being cleared for a development of 133 homes. One might reasonably ask: *whose history is being developed over, and whose history is being erased?* Whatever one's political position, the fact remains that possession being awarded through historical court proceedings does not magically make every underlying question of title, evidence, procedure or institutional conduct disappear. A court order is not an archaeological dig, a title investigation, or a certificate of immaculate institutional behaviour. I attach a summary of my grievances concerning CADW, particularly its historic involvement in this matter. I also attach a mock court application which I have been developing alongside AI-assisted legal research, not as a substitute for legal advice, but as a means of stress-testing the evidence and identifying the questions that require proper legal determination. I hope you will read them carefully. This is considerably larger than one parcel of land The parcel my family occupied — Church View Close — may ultimately prove to be only one piece of a much larger story. The same apparent pattern of irregularity that I am investigating in relation to our parcel appears potentially relevant to: - the parcel we leased immediately to the east, now proposed for the 133-home development; - the playing fields subsequently acquired by the council; - the 33 acres associated with the limeworks; and - potentially the underlying question of whether the Marquess of Bute possessed the freehold interest that has subsequently been assumed. That last question is obviously not something I intend to settle by rhetorical flourish. It is precisely the sort of question that should be settled by *documents, title records and evidence*. One relevant public-record reference is here: https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/2020_01590_hyb That is the point of my investigation. I am not asking anybody to accept my conclusions simply because I have reached them. *I am asking institutions to produce the evidence.* What happened to my family cannot simply be filed away What happened to my family and our home in the 1980s was, in its human consequences, devastating. From my perspective, it amounted to an assault on our family itself. And decades of it. At least mid 40's by Western Ground Rents and onwards. For decades there has been no meaningful after-support, no meaningful attempt at reconciliation, no reparative process and, above all, no satisfactory account of what actually happened. Instead, the historical record appears fragmented, inaccessible and in places remarkably difficult to obtain. CADW is only one of numerous agencies about which my representatives are now compiling material. The emerging picture includes questions concerning procedural fairness, court proceedings, evidential failures, institutional decision-making, heritage protection and the apparent absence of effective oversight. The more documents I obtain, the more questions arise. And I am increasingly uncomfortable with the proposition that *the descendants of the people affected should have to conduct the investigation themselves simply to discover what the institutions already ought to know.* It is particularly distressing that I am having to investigate matters surrounding my own father's and grandmother's lives and deaths in this way. I am asking for accountability, not theatre I appreciate that public bodies have procedures. I appreciate that officials have workloads. I appreciate that nobody likes receiving an inconvenient historical file with several decades' worth of questions attached to it. But carefully crafted sentences, selective disclosure, unexplained omissions and silence are not substitutes for accountability. I have repeatedly encountered what appears to be a culture of concealment, stealth and institutional defensiveness. Sometimes I receive an answer. Sometimes I receive an answer to a question I did not ask. Sometimes I receive an exquisitely polished paragraph which manages, with almost breathtaking elegance, to avoid answering the actual question. It is rather like asking for the keys to the filing cabinet and being handed a brochure about the importance of filing cabinets. That may be administratively impressive. It is not an answer. I am asking you to intervene I do not expect either of you to determine the merits of my family's historical or legal claims yourselves. I am asking you to ensure that the matter receives *proper independent scrutiny*. Specifically, I am asking you to assist in ensuring that: 1. relevant surviving records are identified and preserved; 2. agencies holding potentially material records provide substantive answers rather than procedural evasions; 3. the historical involvement of CADW and other public bodies is properly examined; 4. the underlying title, conveyancing and land-history evidence is obtained wherever it survives; 5. any allegations of procedural unfairness or institutional failure are referred to the appropriate independent bodies where necessary; and 6. my family is finally given a meaningful opportunity to establish, through evidence, what actually happened. I have no interest in mythology. I want the documents. I want the chronology. I want the title deeds. I want the correspondence. I want the decisions. I want to know who knew what, when they knew it, what they did with that information, and why. If the evidence ultimately disproves some of my suspicions, so be it. *But the evidence must first be allowed to speak.* And yes, I am angry I make no apology for that. I served this country. I spent years working in public service. I have worked for the Vale Council. I have served in the military and operated in circumstances considerably more dangerous than sending an email to a public authority. I am therefore perfectly capable of distinguishing between legitimate administration and institutional stonewalling. I am no longer asking to be placated. I am asking for cooperation in recovering whatever evidence remains and allowing it to be examined properly. The local community members who have contacted me have long memories. Many remain convinced that something about this episode was profoundly wrong. I intend to establish exactly what happened — not through rumour, grievance or inherited mythology, but through the surviving documentary record. And if the record contradicts me, I will accept that. But if the record supports my family, then somebody is eventually going to have to explain why it took a descendant *38 years, hundreds of enquiries and an obscene amount of archival digging* to uncover it. That is not an acceptable model of public accountability. So, gentlemen — enough of the situationship. Whatever happened to: *“We don't negotiate with terrorists”?* Is there peace? *No.* Is there peace? *No.* Is there peace? *No.* There is, however, apparently an absolutely fabulous quantity of bureaucracy. What there has not yet been is accountability. I therefore ask you, gentlemen, to address this matter with the seriousness it deserves and to assist my family in obtaining the answers that have been denied to us for far too long. I am not asking for special treatment. I am asking for the truth. And if the institutions involved have nothing to hide, then surely they should have nothing to fear from producing the documents. Regards, Sion Buckler (Ret'd Sergeant)