Community Ownership and Local Landed Power

The Glengarry Community Development Trust is a dynamic and successful community body based in Invergarry, Inverness-shire. It owns a 37 ha community woodland with a tourism accommodation and firewood business. In 2022, it acquired a further 47 ha of woodland from Scottish Ministers and is currently developing four woodland crofts.

As with all such community ventures, the organisation is run by a board of volunteers and membership is open to all adults in the local area. The Trust currently has fewer than 100 members out of an eligible 300 or so. The Trust’s website makes it easy to apply for membership online and it was this form that was the focus for some unusual activity in late September.

On a Friday afternoon, between around 1630 and 1800hrs, a stream of applications were made in quick succession. A total of 38 applications for membership were submitted one after the other. All except two of them were submitted with an email address @blacksheephotels.com.

Black Sheep Hotels operates three hotels in this part of Inverness-shire – the Whispering Pines on the shores of Loch Lochy, Rokeby Manor in Invergarry and the famous Cluanie Inn on the A87 in Glen Cluanie. All are owned by Mars Commercial Property Holdings Ltd. registered at Tom-An-Oir, Invergarry PH35 4HR. They are operated by Black Sheep Management Services Ltd.

A previous company, Mars Black Sheep Hotels Ltd. was responsible for the refurbishment of the Cluanie Inn and Whispering Pines Hotel. It went into administration in 2020, owing over £3 million to Douglas and Stewart UK Ltd. who had been responsible for the construction works. As a consequence Douglas Stewart UK Ltd itself went bust and eventually dissolved following liquidation in January 2025.

Four years ago, Mr Narang announced plans to construct a new village to the west of Invergarry on land owned by Scottish Ministers. The plans came to nothing but they did represent the beginnings of tension between Mr Narang and the Trust over the acquisition of several parcels of land that both parties were keen to acquire.

You can watch an STV report on the proposals below. They were eventually abandoned.

The complex ownership structure of Mr Narang’s businesses includes a number of other companies such as Black Sheep Farms Ltd. which operates Halcyon Farm. Here, for £100 you can visit the animals. The Highland cows can also be fed (for a fee) at the Cluanie Inn . All are ultimately owned by Mars Enterprises and Hospitality Pvt Ltd. a company registered in Mumbai, India. The owner of this Indian company is Mr Sanjay Narang.

Mr Narang is building a luxury mansion house (Halcyon Manor) on the shores of Loch Garry. The development includes staff accommodation. Mars Commercial Property Holdings Ltd. also owns 62 ha of land to the south of the A87 at a popular viewpoint overlooking Loch Garry. The company has a live planning application for a car park, visitor centres and cafe at this location (visual impression image at top of this blog post). It also owns a number of properties in and around Invergarry.

Mr Narang and his companies have invested significant amounts of capital into their three hotels and they are of high quality. This investment is welcome.

However, the applications for membership of the Glengarry Community Development Trust may not be so welcome. The company has said that there is no sinister intent behind them but has not explained how 36 separate employees all managed to make an application one after the other in quick succession over such a short period. It appears that the applications were all in fact made by one person on behalf of all of the employees. It is not even clear that all of those making an application were even aware that they had done so.

The Trust is dealing with the applications according to its constitution. If all 38 are accepted, however, it opens up the possibility of Black Sheep Hotels using these members and their votes to influence the affairs of the Trust and even attempt to take over its governance. Mr Narang denies that this is the intention but has not provided an explanation of how and why the application were made.

There are three lessons to learn from this experience

The first is that there are an increasing number of small communities where millionaires have moved in, bought a series of properties and undertaken commercial development. I have documented one case in Braemar [link]. Another example is Taymouth Castle. The concern here is not with the (often welcome) investment per se but with the inability of the local community to have an effective say in who owns important land and property in their community. Such impacts on the community are what is meant to underpin the recent Land Reform (Scotland) Bill but its provisions only apply to large landholdings (over 1000 ha) and so examples like these are unaffected.

Secondly, unlike most of continental Europe, local economic development in places like Glengarry is carried out by community development companies run by volunteer directors and trustees (though often with paid staff). A community council with no statutory powers may also exist (and it does in the case of Glengarry). This contrasts with countries like Norway, France, Italy and elsewhere where there is genuine local government with meaningful statutory powers. If Glengarry were in France, for example, it would have a local municipality and a local mayor (Le Maire) with full powers over land and planning. Every adult in Glengarry would have a vote.

And this leads to the third point. In contrast to the communes and municipalities of continental Europe, membership of organisations like the Trust is voluntary. Local people join if they want to. In many cases, not many local people are members which makes it more likely that it can be taken over by hostile forces. The lesson for all community development trusts and landowners is to ensure that a majority of eligible adults are members and that there is a healthy democratic governance process.