FOI & Records Requests — Backstory, Status and Forward Plan

Status at 8 October 2026. This page is the top-level control view of the records-access campaign: what has been asked of public bodies, what has come back, where every live request stands, and what happens next, with dates. Every statement is a documented fact from the family’s correspondence unless it is labelled as a plan. Officials are identified by role, not by name. Subject-access content is private; only status is shown.

Detail lives elsewhere: the Records Access Chronology (the story, body by body), the FOI & Public-Authority Reply Register (every reply and attachment), the Programme Dashboard and the October 2026 S0 Control Register (the PRINCE2 controls).

1. The position in five lines

• Scale. Since November 2025 the family has made FOI, EIR, subject-access and complaint requests to more than twenty public bodies and archives.
• What has come back. Two Cadw survey photographs of 29 July 1988; HM Land Registry’s schedule of 43 first-registration documents (the 1969 root deed is not on it); three Royal Commission archive records on the 1988 demolition (NMR 6048941, 6048943, 6048945); Museum Wales’s Church Farm accession 63.24; and The National Archives’ identification of the House of Lords judicial papers, YHL/PO/JO/10/11/2536, item 19, BP Properties Ltd v Buckler.
• The recurring answer. “Not held”, “most likely destroyed” with no destruction record, “already answered”, or a redirect to another body. A missing record is treated as a recovery task, not as proof of what it contained. ^{🕒10-10-2026}
• Clocks. Four statutory or review deadlines fall between 26 and 28 October 2026 (Wales Office review, Cadw ATISN 27589, Vale 00211557, Land Registry subject access), with a Ministry of Defence escalation control on 28 October. One review (Vale of Glamorgan 00210772) has been outstanding since 7 July.
• Pace. Several follow-ups are drafted and waiting to go. Section 4 sets a dated outbound schedule so that nothing sits unsent.

2. Latest status by body

Status key: OVERDUE = past its date with no outcome; ACTION = the next move is ours; WAITING = with the other body; ANSWERED = a substantive reply has been received and logged.

3. How we got here: the backstory in four phases

Phase 1 — first enquiries (November 2025 to May 2026). Early approaches to the Royal Commission, The National Archives, Glamorgan Archives, Cadw and Heneb established that archive material exists but that nobody held a complete file. The National Archives found the Manorial Documents Register return for the Manor of Llandough; the Royal Commission confirmed it holds archive items on the site. Several emails to Cadw and Land Registry addresses bounced.

Phase 2 — formal requests and first refusals (June to August 2026). Cadw released two 1988 survey photographs and said the rest of its file was “most likely destroyed”, with no destruction record. HM Land Registry did not uphold the family’s complaint at either stage and, on 30 July, released a schedule of 43 first-registration documents that does not include the 1969 root deed. Museum Wales answered “not held” twice, and released records it had already found only after a new request number. The Ministry of Justice treated a court-records request as a subject access request. ^{🕒10-10-2026}

Phase 3 — escalation and consolidation (September 2026). The family referred the Land Registry matter to the Independent Complaints Reviewer, opened a Cadw stage-one complaint and a Heneb complaint, and chased the Vale internal review. The National Archives identified the House of Lords judicial papers for BP Properties Ltd v Buckler. On 28 September the family served preservation notices on every holder of likely records, and the Wales Office, Royal Commission and National Library of Wales acknowledged them.

Phase 4 — control and pace (October 2026). Replies have arrived from Museum Wales (5 October), the Royal Commission, Heneb and Glamorgan Archives (6 October). The programme moved to PRINCE2 7 controls, with HubSpot as the private execution ledger and this wiki as the public record. The task now is to turn each drafted follow-up into a sent request on a fixed schedule, and to end every avenue in one of four states: recovered and verified; not found after a defined search; externally blocked; or closed with a recorded reason. ^{🕒10-10-2026}

4. Forward plan: the next 30 days

Plan, not fact. Outbound items go to one body per message and never to several bodies at once. At most three requests go out on any working day, each to a different body. Dates move only by recorded decision; statutory dates never move.

Reporting rhythm

• Every Friday: this page is updated with the week’s replies, sends and changed dates (a checkpoint report in PRINCE2 terms).
• First Monday of the month: the monthly Highlight Report.
• Rule: an acknowledgement is not a result. A request counts as complete only when its acceptance test is met (see the October S0 Control Register).

5. Reading queue (received, not yet read or logged)

• Two National Counter Terrorism Security Office responses on WhatDoTheyKnow, posted 1 October.
• The Landmark Chambers reply to the 28 September preservation notice.
• The HMCTS extension letters of 9 September and 2 October (PDF attachments).
• The Land Registry Chief Executive’s letter to the MP (260900), which should be added to the Evidence Library.

See also: Missing Records Register · Where Things Stand · Project Plan · Evidence Library ^{🕒10-10-2026}