North community council set to dissolve for second time to remove “disruptive” member

A Sutherland community council is taking drastic action in a bid to get rid of a member who is said to be “disruptive” and “behaves like a “football hooligan”.

Ardgay and District Community Council (A&DCC) is to dissolve in the hope of reforming without member Samantha Kane, owner of Carbisdale Castle.

A motion was passed at the group’s monthly meeting in Ardgay Hall last night when it was agreed to hold an Extraordinary General Meeting shortly to dissolve the council.

This will be the second time in just over a year that the community council has collapsed.

The motion was proposed by vice-chairman Robert Sawyer and seconded by chairman Les Waugh with all of the councillors present except Ms Kane in favour.

After the meeting, Mr Waugh confirmed that the move was being made as a means of dislodging Ms Kane as a councillor.

He said the community council had received three written complaints and several verbal complaints about Ms Kane’s behaviour.

He revealed that he had asked Ms Kane a number of times to resign but that she had declined to do so.

He said: “Her behaviour at community council meetings has been appalling. She sometimes behaves like a six year old child who has been scolded, shouting at people, stamping her feet and banging her walking stick on the floor like a football hooligan.

“All we ever hear about is Samantha Kane and Carbisdale Castle and the community benefit from it is nil.

“She also bangs on about the Highlands not being ready for transgenders - that is b******. We have several transgender people in our community and several gay couples. Sexuality is nothing. We like nice people and she has not been very pleasant.”

We are all just fed up with the antics.

Mr Waugh said that the community council was otherwise “well put together with some superb brains”.

He added that the timing of the dissolution had to be carefully planned so that the council’s outstanding business, including funding applications. could be completed.

“We have given ourselves enough time to deal with anything that is on the horizon and cannot wait,” he said.

Today barrister Ms Kane said: ““We had a perfectly good meeting when this proposal came out of the blue.

"I have never seen so much hate directed at one person. This lynch mob have come up with every excuse to remove me from the council.

"But this is an unlawful act and could be subject to a judicial review. And I will challenge it. The Highland Council should stop this.

"They have been asking me to resign for no reason whatsoever for some time. I am giving my time to serve the community, and they will lose my legal expertise if I am removed.

"Some of the behaviour I have been subjected to belongs to the previous century. I have experienced outright hate. I have offered peace meetings with other councillors in the past and the offer is still on the table. At the end of the day, we all here to serve the community."

The previous Ardgay and District Community Council collapsed in February 2024 after four of its five members resigned - leaving only Samanth Kane, who had served as vice-chairman.

The community council was reformed at an interim election in October last year when Ms Kane was automatically reelected along with seven new members - Eilidh Forbes, Tommy Gordon, Kerry Hawthorne, Anne Henderson, Robert Henderson, Robert Sawyer and Les Waugh.

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