GHF-E090-N16 — House of Commons, 22 May 1980: Ted Rowlands MP on BP and Western Ground Rents (Hansard)
Wiki catalogue reference: GHF-E090-N16 · Custodian / source URL: Buckler family evidence repository
Evidence preview
Preview not embedded. As at 10-10-2026, no inline image or document preview was identified in the evidence section of this page. Use the custodian/source link below to inspect the item.
No image is held. The primary source is the official record, available online at historic Hansard: Amendments of Leasehold Reform Act 1967 etc. (22 May 1980). HC Deb 22 May 1980, vol. 985, Housing Bill, report stage.
Catalogue UID: GHF-E090-N16 · Custodian/source copy: open source object. Preview and provenance status as at 10-10-2026.
Description
4. Provenance and where to check it
DOCUMENTED FACT (parliamentary record) — context only. Catalogue no. GHF-E090-N16. This is not a newspaper article and does not name Great House Farm or Llandough. It is catalogued here because the family’s research file cites it as criticism of the BP pension fund’s conduct as a ground landlord. Sections 1 to 4 record what the item is and says. Section 5 is the Wiki’s reading and is open to challenge. Jump to: Evidence · Transcript · Description · Provenance · Interpretation.
- What it is: a speech in the House of Commons on amendments to the Leasehold Reform Act 1967 during the report stage of the Housing Bill.
- Speaker: Mr Edward (Ted) Rowlands, Member for Merthyr Tydfil.
- What is said: that Western Ground Rents had been bought by the BP pension fund; that the fund was behaving harshly towards householders; that pensioners in the fund might not want this done in their name; that leasehold was becoming “a form of corporatism”, with the BP pension fund as an example.
- Not in the text: any reference to Great House Farm, Llandough, the Williams or Buckler families, or any individual property.
- Primary source: the historic Hansard page for 22 May 1980. The reader should confirm the wording there.
- Wiki record: transcribed on the Press Archive page (N16). The family’s research file describes this speech as criticism of the BP pension trust’s conduct.
Transcription
Open transcription
2. Verbatim transcript
Extracts only, as transcribed on the Press Archive page. “…” marks omitted text.
Mr. Edward Rowlands (Merthyr Tydfil): “We have had some cranky and curious ground landlords in South Wales, but the saddest aspect is that the most rapacious ground landlord, Western Ground Rents, has been bought by the BP pension fund, which is behaving in the same rapacious and, at times, unfeeling and uncaring way in handling the genuine requests of householders. Such ground landlords are prompting the growing demand for further amendments to the 1967 Act. I should like to think that if the many pensioners in the BP fund realised that it was using its power to drive harsh bargains with householders and to act tough and without feeling or care, they would not want such actions to be taken in their name. It is regrettable that a distinguished company, which is half owned by the Government, should behave in that way.” Later in the debate he described the leasehold system as “a relic of feudalism … now becoming a form of corporatism. … An example is the BP pension fund.”
Interpretation and wider context
CONTEXT. The speech is an on-the-record statement, by a Member of Parliament in 1980, that the BP pension fund owned Western Ground Rents and was criticised for its dealings with leaseholders. The Wiki’s chain of title for the farm includes Western Ground Rents (see the 1938 entry on The 1939 Revised Tenancy), so the speech is background on the character of that landlord in the same period as the dispute. It is not evidence about the farm, and the Wiki does not suggest that the speaker had the farm in mind.
- Add a link from the pages that discuss BP’s ownership of Western Ground Rents.
Related: Press Articles Index · Press Archive transcripts · BP Properties Ltd v Buckler · Evidence Library.
Interpretive assessment date: 10-10-2026.