Councillors propose control zone to limit Airbnb style lets in Highlands

Councillors are pushing to bring in a control zone that would limit the number of Airbnb-style lets in the Highlands.

It has been suggested that the move would be a way of tackling a housing shortage across the region.

Over 7,000 short-term let licences have been granted across the area covered by the Highland Council, with just four being refused.

If the proposals are successful, then operators would need planning permission as well as a short-term licence.

The plans have been brought to the table by Inverness councillors Michael Gregson and Duncan Macpherson who say the region needs around 24,000 new homes over the next decade.

They believe the private long-term rental market has shrunk to unmanageable levels because of the shortage of properties available.

It is hoped that a control zone would help tackle this issue.

The proposals will be put forward to the Highland Council next week.

The Association of Scotland’s Self-Caterers (ASSC) has strongly criticised the plans for a Highland-wide planning control area for short-term lets (STLs).

The leading body highlight that the proposals would amount to “regulatory overkill” given the existing accumulated regulatory burden, and insist that STLs have a negligible effect on housing.

BiGGAR Economics, a respected Scottish think tank, recently found in every local authority area across Scotland, including Highland, economically inactive empty homes account for a larger proportion of total dwellings than secondary lets.

Moreover, unlike empty homes, self-catering provided a £200m annual boost to the Highlands, supporting 6,786 jobs.

The latest statistics also suggest that there are over 7,500 empty and long-term empty homes across the Highlands. In addition, there are also larger structural issues at play: a lack of new supply, demographic shifts, and poor delivery of affordable homes.

Fiona Campbell MBE, CEO of the Association of Scotland’s Self-Caterers, said: “Hard-pressed self-catering operators will be experiencing more than a little sense of déjà vu as their sector is once again scapegoated for a shortage of homes.

“Recycling the same tired calls for even stricter controls on short-term lets, despite no evidence it will ease housing pressures, is regulatory overkill. They risk hammering a £200m self-catering sector that underpins Highland tourism.

“The Highlands is an empty homes hotspot, yet there is an obsessive one-track mind approach which continually blames short-term lets despite all evidence to the contrary.

“This includes the fact that the existing STL control area for Badenoch and Strathspey hasn’t produced a single additional affordable home. We would just be replicating failure on a larger scale.

“Our message to councillors ahead of this weeks’ vote is clear: you won’t solve a housing crisis by initiating a crisis in Scottish tourism by decimating local businesses underpinning local economies. Attention must shift to the real causes of the housing crisis.”