Community council was dissolved to remove castle owner, says judge

Community council members "pressed the nuclear button" to dissolve the organisation and unlawfully remove a Highland castle owner from its membership, a judge has said.

Lord Arthurson said the action was taken to eject Samantha Kane from Ardgay and District Community Council.

In his legal opinion, the judge said the move had followed alleged "disorder" during a meeting in April last year.

Kane, owner of Carbisdale Castle near Ardgay, brought a judicial review to the Court of Session. Lord Arthurson has dismissed the case.

Kane took the legal action to seek a decision on whether the action by members of the community council to dissolve the body was unlawful.

Lord Arthurson agreed with submissions made by Kane that the community council was not entitled to dissolve itself.

He said: "In my opinion the objective of the dissolution process from its inception on 17 April 2025 to its effective conclusion on 22 May 2025 was in its essentials to seek to exclude the petitioner (Samantha Kane) from membership of the community council.

"The council did not or could not draw the court's attention to any constitutional provision setting out or even alluding to any power to exclude a sitting member."

The judge discussed a clause in the community council's constitution which was relied on to dissolve the organisation.

He said a "history of dissent" at meetings could not, in his view, be used as a proper basis to support the decision.

Lord Arthurson said: "Dissent is surely a healthy marker of, and intrinsic to, democratic debate and dare one say it democratic institutions.

"To press the button marked nuclear in order to seek to suppress dissent and in this case to actually remove the dissenter cannot have been within the contemplation of the framers of clause 17 in respect of the intended use of the dissolution power."

The community council has since been re-formed and Kane was not elected as a member.

She had sought an outcome from the judicial review called a declarator, which she did not receive.

The judge also dismissed the case.