Welsh Government
Forensic assessment · v1.1.0 · updated 1 November 2026
Translation pending: the assessment text below is in English, the authoritative record.
- Response status
- Not held / refused → Disclosing
- Last contact
- 29 October 2026
- Next date on file
- 6 November 2026 (ng the 1988 listing-file disposal finding and sets a response date of 6 November 2026.)
- Earlier version
- v1.0.0, published 18 October 2026 on the Legal Wiki
Since last assessment
18 October 2026 to 1 November 2026
Our reading: Since 18 October 2026, 6 emails are on file: 4 sent, 2 received (1 with content, 1 automatic acknowledgements). The latest reply moves the response status from “Not held / refused” to “Disclosing”. Most material: 19 October 2026, received, partial (ref ATISN 26-0010): Provides a disclosure letter addressing retention schedules and searches, indicating some information may not be specifically recorded. Next date on file: 6 November 2026. Nothing here changes the earlier current finding unless stated above; this is a log of contact, not a finding about any person.
- Receivedpartialref ATISN 26-0010
Provides a disclosure letter addressing retention schedules and searches, indicating some information may not be specifically recorded.
Requests internal review of the retention schedules response and raises further questions on destruction records, schedules, and search methodology.
- Sentchaseref #628635887
The requester follows up.
- Sentclarification given
Further search terms for the 2 Jul 2026 Cardiff Castle furniture request: historical and descriptive names for the farm.
- Sentfollow-upref ATISN 26-0010
Follow-up on ATISN 26-0010 and ATISN 27589 asking that a focused request be passed to the right team.
1 automatic acknowledgement
- ATISN 26-0010
Acknowledges the 19 Oct complaint on ATISN 26-0010 (retention and destruction schedules) as an internal review; outcome promised by 16 Nov 2026.
The assessment as last published
Carried over unchanged from v1.0.0 (18 October 2026). Links point inside this site.
Email dialogue evidence: every email exchanged with the Welsh Government (including Cadw) about Great House Farm is catalogued word for word, by thread and date, at Welsh Government and Cadw — Email Correspondence Catalogue (Part 1: Cadw, January–July 2026; Part 2: Cadw, August–October 2026; Part 3: other Welsh Government bodies).
Roadmap / catalogue cross-reference — 10-10-2026: The chronology of Welsh Government, Cadw and other custodians appears in the Institutional Involvement Roadmap. The reported 1988 Cadw-to-Minister spot-listing correspondence has its own placeholder at GHF-E152; its original has not been attached as at 10-10-2026.
Forensic Assessment — Welsh Government
Scope: Welsh Government/Cadw current oversight, records and remedial handling. Historic decisions are attributed only to the body and date actually responsible at the time.
Live matters
The current programme includes Welsh Government records/complaints concerning the Great House Farm heritage and public-authority history, including the live Cadw/Welsh Government information requests already logged by the family. The Government should be assessed separately from Cadw’s historic professional decisions.
Forensic control test
For every live matter identify the exact department/service, decision date, statutory or administrative function, evidence considered, records searched, response reason and available review/escalation route.
Current finding
As at 10-10-2026, the material reviewed does not establish Welsh Government-wide wrongdoing. This does not conclude that every specific decision, record or referral issue is resolved. The active issue is whether current officials adequately respond to newly recovered evidence and identify competent remedies within their remit.
Human action
Track Wales Office/Welsh Government correspondence to substantive outcome, including IR/26/16 where applicable. For Cadw, obtain and analyse the outstanding ATISN material and present a tightly framed remedial request based on the evidence already established.
Acceptance: each live Welsh Government/Cadw matter has a response, statutory basis, next route and deadline.
Institutional appearance timeline — linked source index
Coverage rule: this is a chronological navigation map of published Wiki source pages found by searching the current site index for “Welsh Government”. Every event label links directly to the page containing the source. It avoids duplicating source narratives. It records mention/appearance, not culpability. The displayed date is a source/title date cue, not automatically the date on which the named institution acted. This matters for newspaper stories, later summaries and titles naming more than one event; open the source before attributing an act. Search indexing is a discovery aid, not proof of exhaustive coverage. 🕒
| Source date cue (not necessarily institutional action date) | Event / source — open evidence | Record class |
|---|---|---|
| 1 October 1982 | GHF-E139 — 1 October 1982 GGAT warning about Great House Farm | Published Wiki evidence page |
| 1987 | GHF-E143 — February 1987 East Vale Local Plan: buildings on the site to be retained | Published Wiki evidence page |
| 29 July 1988 | GHF-E144 — 29 July 1988 Cadw inspection photographs and the 5 December 1988 listing decision record | Published Wiki evidence page |
Records-access register appearances — direct row links
Rows below match the institution’s name or an alias in the reply register’s sender/reference or recorded description. A match shows an appearance in the records trail, not necessarily an act by this institution.
| Date | Correspondence / register item (click to open) | Reading rule |
|---|---|---|
| 21 May 2026 | R42 — Cadw (Welsh Government), Listed Buildings casework. | Register row contains a name/alias match; inspect the linked row to distinguish sender, recipient and incidental mention. |
| 11 Jun 2026 | R37 — Welsh Government (Cadw). ATISN 27021 . | Register row contains a name/alias match; inspect the linked row to distinguish sender, recipient and incidental mention. |
| 14 Aug, 27 Aug and 4 Sep 2026 | R25 — Cadw / Welsh Government. ATISN 27021 escalation. | Register row contains a name/alias match; inspect the linked row to distinguish sender, recipient and incidental mention. |
| 8 Sep and 22 Sep 2026 | R16 — Wales Office FOI (NIO mailbox). 26FOI 103 . | Register row contains a name/alias match; inspect the linked row to distinguish sender, recipient and incidental mention. |
| 30 Sep 2026 | R10 — Welsh Government, ministerial correspondence unit. TO/HF/05677/26 . | Register row contains a name/alias match; inspect the linked row to distinguish sender, recipient and incidental mention. |
| 1 Oct 2026 | R04 — Welsh Government (Cadw). ATISN 27589 , following 26FOI 103. | Register row contains a name/alias match; inspect the linked row to distinguish sender, recipient and incidental mention. |
Related navigation: FOI & Public-Authority Reply Register · Records Access Chronology · Evidence Library
High-level Cedwyn Estate theory link: The high-level Cedwyn Estate / Welsh land-concentration hypothesis is a contextual research question here, not a conclusion about Welsh Government involvement. This assessment should contribute only where a specific government record bears on land history, heritage decision-making, title notice, policy or access to records; a correspondence link alone is not proof of a wider strategy. Read the Cedwyn Estate Working Theory.
Page version & change log
Current version: 1.0.0
| Version | Date (UTC) | Editor (human or agent name) | Change | Source / evidence |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1.0.0 | 2026-10-18T15:30Z | the editors | Footer standardised; earlier log rows carried into this table; no content change | Editing Protocol, 18 Oct 2026 |
| 2026-10-18 (rollout date; exact time not separately recorded) | OpenAI-assisted maintenance agent (GPT-6) | Installed this page-local append-only change log and agent instructions. Existing page content was not intentionally rewritten. | User-directed site-wide changelog standard. Saved via WordPress API; public rendering of this page not yet independently checked. |
Agents and editors: follow the Editing Protocol.
Case file
This file is built for a future reparations claim. Facts are as the records show them; interpretation is labelled “our reading”. Items marked “not checked” have not been compared with the original record.
(a) Conduct timeline
46 dated interactions, oldest first; 11 automatic acknowledgements are left out. Quotations are verbatim from the institution’s email; where the reply’s substance was an attachment, the email subject is quoted instead.
Show the timeline
| Date | Direction | Reference | Type | Verbatim |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2 November 2025 | sent | — | request | Subject: Enquiry re potential acquiring authority route – former family farmland (BP v Buckler 1987) |
| 4 November 2025 | received | — | redirected elsewhere | Subject: RE: Enquiry re potential acquiring authority route – former family farmland (BP v Buckler 1987) |
| 4 November 2025 | sent | — | other | Subject: Re: Enquiry re potential acquiring authority route – former family farmland (BP v Buckler 1987) |
| 1 February 2026 | sent | — | other | Subject: Cais am Ddeiseb ac Ymchwiliad Cyhoeddus: Achos Buckler v BP (1987) a Dinistr Great House Farm, Llandough / Formal Request for Inquiry: The Great House Farm Disp |
| 6 February 2026 | sent | — | complaint | Subject: Formal Report of Suspected Indigenous Dispossession, Systemic misconduct, and Archaeological Suppression – Great House Farm, Llandough |
| 25 February 2026 | received | — | redirected elsewhere | It is possible that records of this nature may be held by local museums. |
| 17 May 2026 | sent | — | request | Subject: BP vs Buckler, Great House Farm, Llandough |
| 20 May 2026 | sent | — | request | Subject: Re: Great House Farm, Llandough |
| 21 May 2026 | received | — | partial | This may take a couple of weeks, and I must advise that is quite likely that at least some of these files will have been destroyed, but I will seek to disclose any records we recover to you. |
| 22 May 2026 | sent | — | other | Subject: Re: FW: Great House Farm, Llandough (aka Ty Mawr) |
| 28 May 2026 | sent | — | request | Subject: Great House Farm/ Church View Close, Llandough, nr. Penarth, Vale of Glamorgan |
| 28 May 2026 | sent | — | request | Subject: Great House Farm/ Church View Close, Llandough, nr. Penarth, Vale of Glamorgan |
| 29 May 2026 | sent | — | preservation notice | Subject: FORMAL DISCLOSURE NOTICE & LITIGATION HOLD: Historic Significance, Planning Approvals, and Displaced Family Tenancy Records for Great House Farm, Llandough (FOI |
| 1 June 2026 | sent | ATISN 27021 | other | Subject: Re: Great House Farm/ Church View Close, Llandough, nr. Penarth, Vale of Glamorgan (ATISN 27021) |
| 2 June 2026 | received | ATISN 27021 | correspondence (no disclosure) | Subject: RE: Great House Farm/ Church View Close, Llandough, nr. Penarth, Vale of Glamorgan (ATISN 27021) |
| 2 June 2026 | sent | ATISN 27021 | clarification given | Subject: ATISN 27021 |
| 11 June 2026 | received | ATISN 27021 | substantive disclosure | Please see attached response and documents. |
| 16 June 2026 | sent | — | clarification given | Subject: Re: REVIEW of EOI ATISN 27021 |
| 16 June 2026 | received | — | correspondence (no disclosure) | Subject: RE: REVIEW of EOI ATISN 27021 |
| 16 June 2026 | sent | — | other | Subject: Re: REVIEW of EOI ATISN 27021 |
| 2 July 2026 | received | ATISN 27021 | complaint outcome | Please see attached my review of your request noted ATISN 27021. |
| 2 July 2026 | sent | ATISN 27021 | request | Subject: Re: REVIEW of EOI ATISN 27021 |
| 4 July 2026 | sent | ATISN 27021 | other | Subject: Re: REVIEW of EOI ATISN 27021 |
| 10 July 2026 | received | ATISN 27021 | partial | Subject: RE: REVIEW of EOI ATISN 27021 |
| 10 July 2026 | sent | ATISN 27021 | request | Subject: Re: REVIEW of EOI ATISN 27021 |
| 15 July 2026 | sent | ATISN 27021 | request | Subject: Re: REVIEW of EOI ATISN 27021 |
| 29 July 2026 | received | ATISN 27021 | not held | Subject: RE: REVIEW of EOI ATISN 27021 |
| 29 July 2026 | sent | ATISN 27021 | request | Subject: Re: REVIEW of EOI ATISN 27021 |
| 29 August 2026 | sent | — | other | Subject: Great House Farm, Llandough |
| 4 September 2026 | received | — | not held | I appreciate the importance of this issue to you and your family, and we have therefore provided all the records that we hold regarding the 1988 listing decision to assist with your research. |
| 4 September 2026 | sent | — | other | Subject: Re: Great House Farm, Llandough |
| 20 September 2026 | sent | #628635887 | complaint | Subject: Formal complaint of 17 September 2026 — Great House Farm (Tŷ Mawr), Llandough — non-delivery and re-service |
| 22 September 2026 | sent | — | complaint | Subject: Supplement to complaint re-served 20 September 2026 — Great House Farm (Tŷ Mawr), Llandough |
| 28 September 2026 | sent | — | preservation notice | Subject: Preservation notice — Great House Farm (Tŷ Mawr), Llandough — do not destroy, transfer or dispose |
| 30 September 2026 | sent | — | request | Subject: Re: Statutory notice under Historic Environment (Wales) Act 2023 ss.194–195 — HER GGAT02038s still classifies Wales’s largest excavated early-medieval cemetery |
| 30 September 2026 | received | — | correspondence (no disclosure) | The Policy does not allow us to consider complaints about a decision which has not involved maladministration. |
| 8 October 2026 | received | — | not held | Subject: RE: Preservation notice — Great House Farm (Tŷ Mawr), Llandough — do not destroy records — Matter of public interest |
| 10 October 2026 | sent | — | request | Subject: ATISN 27021 — existing records behind the 1988 listing-file disposal finding |
| 10 October 2026 | sent | — | request | Subject: Welsh Government / former Welsh Office – retention and destruction schedules for pre-1997 file series (agricultural tenancy, land, rural policy) |
| 16 October 2026 | sent | ATISN 26-0010 | chase | Subject: Re: ATISN 26-0010 - Acknowledgement (Retention & disposal schedules) |
| 16 October 2026 | sent | ATISN 27021 | request | Subject: Re: ATISN 27021 — existing records behind the 1988 listing-file disposal finding (ATISN 26-0009) |
| 19 October 2026 | received | ATISN 26-0010 | partial | Any recorded information identifying whether files in those series that would have related to Great House Farm / Tŷ Mawr / Llandough-juxta-Penarth, or to the companies Western Ground Rents Ltd or BP Properties Ltd, were destroyed, transferred or retained, and if destroyed the date and authority. |
| 19 October 2026 | sent | ATISN 26-0010 | internal review request | Subject: Re: Welsh Government response to request for information ATISN 26-0010 (Retention & destruction schedules)) |
| 21 October 2026 | sent | #628635887 | chase | Subject: RE: [2] Re: Supplement to complaint re-served 20 September 2026 — Great House Farm (Tŷ Mawr), Llandough (TO/HF/05677/26) |
| 29 October 2026 | sent | — | clarification given | Subject: Great House Farm, Llandough | Cardiff Castle Furniture |
| 29 October 2026 | sent | ATISN 26-0010 | follow-up | Subject: Re: Welsh Government response to request for information ATISN 26-0010 (Retention & destruction schedules)) |
(b) Inconsistencies and gaps
“Not held” answers set against the duty below
- 29 July 2026: “not held” answer (ref ATISN 27021): States no further records or destruction documentation exist, confirms searches complete, and notes right to complain to the Information Commissioner.
- 4 September 2026: “not held” answer: The FOI officer reaffirms that all held information has been provided and directs the requester to the Welsh Government complaints process.
- 8 October 2026: “not held” answer: Planning and Environment Decisions Wales confirms it holds no records for the property or the named planning applications.
Contradictions between replies, or between institutions
- 19 October 2026: Discrepancy: a “not held” answer on 8 October 2026 and a disclosure or partial disclosure on 19 October 2026; how both stand together is not explained.
- 25 February 2026: Redirected on 25 February 2026 to RCAHMW National Monuments Record of Wales, Heneb, Vale of Glamorgan Local Planning Authority; that body answered “not held” on 29 October 2026 (its page). Each points elsewhere; the record is not located.
- 21 May 2026: Redirected on 21 May 2026 to Glamorgan Archives, National Library of Wales, Royal Commission on the Ancient & Historical Monuments of Wales, Coflein, Tithe Maps of Wales, National Library of Scotland maps, National Archives research guide; that body answered “not held” on 29 October 2026 (its page). Each points elsewhere; the record is not located.
(c) Quarantined-name links
Records on the quarantine register (Kissed Frogs) that sit in, or came from, this institution’s holdings. None is treated as settled.
No quarantined-name record on the register is linked to this institution’s holdings.
(d) Duty and liability — our reading
Liability indicators (our reading): strong
- Duty
- Freedom of Information Act 2000 s.1 and s.10 (confirm or deny, and supply held information within 20 working days); Environmental Information Regulations 2004 for land and environmental records; records management under the s.46 Code of Practice; Public Records Act 1958 selection and transfer for central government records.
- Indicators the duty was not met
- redirections that end in “not held”; replies that do not agree; “not held” answers.
- Evidence still needed to confirm
- the institution’s retention schedule and disposal record for the series in question; the catalogue or file list it searched; any internal review or complaint outcome.
- Likely extent of exposure if confirmed
- An ICO decision notice or a records-management finding; any reparations claim would also need a link between a records failure and the loss.
(e) Evidence still needed
- Inspect the files it names, or their transferred copies at the archive. for paid visit list
- Check, in person, the series that would hold what the 29 July 2026 answer covers. for paid visit list
- Check, in person, the series that would hold what the 4 September 2026 answer covers. for paid visit list
- Check, in person, the series that would hold what the 8 October 2026 answer covers. for paid visit list
Versions
| 1.1.0 | 2026-11-01 | Moved to the Forensic Assessments webapp; dated “Since last assessment” section added; response status re-read. |
| 1.0.0 | 2026-10-18 | As published on the Legal Wiki. |