Dear Mr Egan,

Thank you for your email of 11 October 2026. I write about matters of serious public interest to the family and to Llandough's history, and I ask the Council to treat this correspondence with priority and to give it its full cooperation. The email contains six separate matters. Please respond to each under its own number. Nothing below withdraws, narrows or replaces my original request of 21 September, and attendance at a meeting is not a condition of my information rights.

I am not asking the Council to adjudicate the family's title dispute or to make findings about any individual, and I am not alleging wrongdoing by you. I am asking the Council to account accurately for its own records, knowledge, decisions and referrals, and to distinguish clearly between what its primary records establish, what is merely recorded as said, and what remains uncertain. If a search shows that nothing was recorded or referred, I ask that the Council say so plainly, because that is itself important.

1. PRESERVATION OF RECORDS

Because these requests concern historic records that may be time-sensitive for other proceedings and bodies, please:
(a) confirm in writing, within 5 working days, that all potentially relevant records have been preserved and that any scheduled disposal, destruction or retention-schedule review affecting them is suspended. This covers paper and electronic minutes, agendas, correspondence, emails, clerk's notes, plans, photographs, files and archive-transfer or deposit paperwork, and any such material held on the Council's behalf by a current or former councillor, clerk or officer, including at home;
(b) ask each current councillor, and, where practicable, the Council's former clerks and members, whether they hold any such material, and include whatever is found in the searches below.
I raise this as a precaution. For completeness, section 77 FOIA and regulation 19 of the EIR make it an offence to alter, conceal or destroy records with intent to prevent their disclosure once a request has been made.

2. INTERNAL REVIEW OF THE 11 OCTOBER REFUSAL (FOIA s.12; EIR reg. 11)

Please treat this as a formal request for the internal review you offered, of the section 12 refusal of my request of 21 September. To the extent any information is environmental, please also treat it as representations under regulation 11 of the EIR 2004.

My request had three categories: (a) records created after the 2002 deposit concerning Great House Farm / Tŷ Mawr, Church View Close, the village green (including VG 41) or the roadside verge by the churchyard wall; (b) photographs, postcards or images of the farm, barn, green or church surroundings, of any date; (c) records showing what, if anything, transferred from Penarth Town Council at the 1982 reorganisation, and where pre-1982 records were deposited. I ask the reviewer to address:

(i) Scope. The estimate covers only the reading of 224 sets of minutes for 2002-2016. Please explain why that is necessary and sufficient for each category, particularly (b) and (c), and what other searches were considered: correspondence and email files, photograph collections, transfer or deposit records, any index, catalogue, minute heading or electronic copy of the minutes, targeted searches on the place names, former names and dates in my request, and sampling.

(ii) Arithmetic. The letter gives 20 minutes to read plus 10 minutes to assess each set, which is 30 minutes x 224 = 6,720 minutes (112 hours), but states 2,240 minutes (37 hours), which is 10 minutes x 224. The figures do not reconcile. Please confirm which calculation was used and which activities under regulation 4 of the Fees Regulations it includes. I accept the limit is exceeded on either figure, so I do not rely on this point alone.

(iii) Section 12(2). Please say whether the cost of determining whether the information is held would itself exceed the limit, or whether the estimate concerns locating and extracting information once its existence is established. Section 1(1)(a) duty to confirm or deny is preserved unless that cost alone exceeds the limit.

(iv) EIR. The green, verge, trees, woodland and land boundaries are likely to be environmental information. Please say which parts were assessed under the EIR. The FOIA cost limit is not an EIR refusal ground; if regulation 12(4)(b) is relied on, please state it expressly with reasons and carry out the public interest assessment, including the presumption in favour of disclosure.

(v) Advice and assistance (s.16 FOIA; reg. 9 EIR). Limiting the minutes to 2002-2006 does not address categories (b) or (c). Please say whether any part can be answered within the limit and advise a practical refinement.

(vi) Without prejudice to the review: if the refusal is maintained, please treat categories (b) and (c) alone as a refined request, assessed under the correct regime, so that no time is lost.

Please acknowledge this request, identify who will conduct the review (someone who took no part in the original decision), and give the anticipated date. I would be grateful for the outcome and reasons in writing within 20 working days.

3. NEW REQUEST FOR RECORDED INFORMATION (FOIA and, where environmental, EIR)

This is a separate request, not a refinement of the one under review. Please search for Council-held or controlled minutes, agendas, reports, correspondence, complaints, notes, representations or referrals:

(i) from 1 January 1986 to 31 December 1990 concerning Great House Farm / Tŷ Mawr, its occupation, title or tenure, development, removal of the occupants or demolition, including communications with the Vale of Glamorgan Council, planning authorities, developers, solicitors, landowners, police, heritage bodies or other public authorities. This includes any concerns raised by my late father, William "Billy" Buckler, or other family members. I have family information that my father raised concerns at Council meetings around 1988, described within the family as fraud-related. I cannot verify whether he did, what was said or what followed, and I do not present it as established fact. I ask whether the Council's records establish what, if anything, was reported, how it was handled, whether it was referred to any other body, and what response followed. References to fraud identify a subject for the search; they are not a claim that a record of fraud exists;

(ii) planning records, plans, annexes, correspondence and supporting documents relating to application 89/01396/OUT (as I understand the reference) and any related consideration of the redevelopment. The copy available to me refers to annexes containing representations from historic societies concerning Great House Farm, which appear to be absent. Please confirm whether the Council holds them and, if not, whether its records identify another custodian or archive;

(iii) of any date concerning the village green, roadside verge, trees and adjoining woodland: history, status, boundaries, maintenance, planting, public use, and any reported extension of Church View Close gardens beyond their boundaries into the woodland, including correspondence with the charity that holds the woodland, residents, the Vale of Glamorgan Council or other authorities. I am aware the official VG 41 registration file is understood to be held by the Vale of Glamorgan Council; I ask only for the Council's own copies, correspondence, representations and referrals;

(iv) concerning the 2002 deposit: please confirm whether the Council retains or controls any copies of the minutes deposited with Glamorgan Archives, and identify any record of that transfer, its date, and any archival reference or destination known to the Council. I am separately pursuing the deposited volumes with Glamorgan Archives.

I assert a proprietary interest in Parcel A and the adjoining woodland, but I do not ask the Council to adjudicate title. If any part is thought too broad, please identify that part and say what narrower search is practicable, rather than refusing the whole. If nothing is held after appropriate searches, please say so and identify any known transfer or deposit location. If anything is withheld, please identify the statutory basis and reasons. I understand the 20-working-day period under section 10 FOIA and regulation 5 EIR runs from receipt of this email.

4. SUBJECT ACCESS REQUEST (Article 15 UK GDPR; Data Protection Act 2018)

Please provide a copy of my personal data held by the Council, including data in minutes, correspondence, reports, photographs or other records (including retained historical records) concerning my presence at Great House Farm as a child, the events surrounding the family's removal and the 1988 demolition, and any later record that identifies or refers to me. An electronic copy, ordinarily without charge, is fine. Please acknowledge this as a subject access request. If you reasonably need identity evidence, please tell me promptly what is required. I understand the one-month period under Article 12(3) runs from receipt of this request, or of any identity evidence reasonably requested. This section concerns only my personal data; my father's reported statements and the wider records are dealt with in section 3.

5. THE OCTOBER MEETING

Your email says my "other matters" will be considered at the October meeting. You gave no date, time, venue or agenda. Please confirm within 5 working days:
- whether the meeting has already taken place and, if so, its date, the agenda and papers, the minute or other record of consideration, and any decision or action;
- if it has not, the date, time, venue, public attendance arrangements and any remote option, and the draft or published agenda showing which of my matters are scheduled and under which item numbers;
- whether I am invited to attend (I have not yet decided whether to) and how a member of the public may make representations on relevant business, including any procedure, deadline and speaking limit;
- that this entire email, and my earlier correspondence, will be circulated to all councillors, how decisions and actions will be minuted, and how I can obtain the minutes or formal outcome.

I ask that the following be placed on the agenda, as issues for clarification and not as findings:

(a) From my 21 September email: whether the Council will pass my contact details to any former member, former clerk or long-standing resident who may wish to contact me (entirely at their choice, and with no disclosure of their details to me without consent); table and minute my correspondence in full; and accept my offer of a short talk, without charge, on the documentary record.

(b) The green south of the former farmhouse: what the Council understands its present role to be (owner, manager, custodian or otherwise), and the recorded instrument, plan or Council decision on which that understanding rests. The family's research raises a question whether this land was distinct from the agricultural parcel addressed in the 1955 possession proceedings. I ask the Council to check its own records, not to decide that question.

(c) The woodland behind the houses: I understand the charity responsible for it has raised concerns that some adjoining gardens extend beyond their boundaries. I cannot verify that. Please establish the charity's precise account, whether the Council holds relevant plans or correspondence, and refer any substantiated concern to the appropriate landowner or authority. I do not ask for findings about individual residents without evidence.

(d) The 1989 planning record and the missing annexes (see 3(ii)): whether the Council holds copies and whether it will ask the planning authority or relevant archive to locate the complete papers. This matters to understanding what was put before the decision-makers following the demolition.

(e) My father's reported 1980s concerns (see 3(i)): that the Council consider what its own records show and, if they show nothing, say so.

(f) The historic site today: a site visit and, in due course, the merits of an interpretation board or plaque addressing the farm, the archaeological discoveries (the excavation beneath Church View Close recorded 1,026 burials, above a Roman villa and an Iron Age roundhouse) and the history of the green.

If any proposed action is outside the Community Council's powers, please identify the appropriate body.

6. CHARGES AND THE CLERK'S POSITION

I do not authorise paid searches or accept any charge, and ask that no cost chargeable to me be incurred without my prior written agreement. If the Council offers to comply for a fee (FOIA s.13) or proposes a charge for environmental information, please send an itemised quotation for consideration only (not acceptance): the legal basis, the work proposed, hours and hourly rate, the total, whether the work can be staged (for example, categories 2(b) and 2(c) first), any published EIR charging schedule, payment methods, payee, payment reference and deadline.

Your 11 October email is signed as Clerk, and I understood from public information that you retired from that post in June 2026. I treat that as unverified. Please confirm: (a) whether you are currently Clerk, or acting or locum, and since when; (b) who is the Council's Proper Officer and who has custody of its records; (c) whether the 11 October decision was yours personally or the Council's; (d) whether any handover or inventory of records was made on a change of clerk; and (e) who will conduct the internal review.

I would prefer to resolve all of this cooperatively and with the Council's full help. If the matters above are not dealt with properly, I will have to consider a complaint to the Information Commissioner (including on advice and assistance, the duty to confirm or deny and the EIR handling) and to the Public Services Ombudsman for Wales. I would rather not need to. Please acknowledge receipt of this email and each numbered part within 5 working days, and reply by email and by post to [redacted].

Thank you for your time and courtesy.

Regards,
Sion Buckler (Ret'd Sergeant)
Royal Signals Cyber / Electronic Warfare Professional and Life Member
[redacted]