Scottish council told to halt plans to introduce holiday let control zones

Councillors have agreed to move ahead with proposals to introduce what is known as a short-term let control area for the city and the Aird and Loch Ness ward.

Control zones aim to limit the number of properties that would otherwise be family homes being converted into short-term lets. If brought in formally, it would mean anyone wanting to turn a property like this into a holiday let would need planning permission to do so.

Highland Council already operates a control zone in the Badenoch and Strathspey area.

However, the Association of Scotland’s Self-Caterers said the council has not provided enough evidence that control zones improve housing supply.

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Fiona Campbell, the association’s chief executive, said: “This plan scapegoat responsible local businesses while doing nothing to address the real issues underlying housing challenges - be it second homes, the increasing number of economically inactive empty properties and lack of housing supply.

“Until Highland Council can provide clear and unambiguous evidence that its existing control area is working in delivering measurable improvement in housing availability or affordability, and that it has not generated unintended consequences, then there should be no further expansion of this policy elsewhere in the Highlands, including this proposal for Inverness.”

Highland Council estimates that 88 per cent of the short-term lets in Inverness are “potential dwellings”.

Across the Highlands, 6 per cent of potential homes are licenced as short-term lets, and around 5 per cent of new housing completions within the last five years are now licenced short-term lets.

It notes this has knock-on effects such as a “lack of affordable and appropriate housing for local residents”, a “detrimental” impact on local services such as schools closing or relocating, and changes to how neighbourhoods feel.

A report put to councillors said: “Relative to other areas of Highland, Inverness and the Loch Ness vicinity are seeing proportions of short-term lets grow at a faster rate than Highland as a whole.

“An assessment of the Inverness housing market area undertaken as part of the Highland housing need and demand assessment similarly indicates that some parts of the area’s housing market are showing signs of this pressure, are relatively less contained, with less affordable properties than other areas of Highland, and higher proportions of sales to those outwith the local area, and these are spatially consistent with the areas with higher rates of short-term lets.”

Should these proposals go ahead, two short-term let control areas would be introduced. One would cover the four city wards (Inverness West, Inverness Central, Inverness Ness-side and Inverness Millburn) and the Aird and Loch Ness ward.

Highland Council has been approached for comment.