Approval of short term let zone for Badenoch and Strathspey hailed as 'momentous change'
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Affordable housing campaigners are celebrating a ‘momentous’ change following the decision by Scottish Ministers to give the go-ahead to cret only Scotland’s second short-term let control area in Badenoch and Strathspey.
One of the prime movers of the zone has been local Highland councillor Bill Lobban who lives in Aviemore where house prices are amongst the highest in the North of Scotland.
He told the Strathy: “Local members, both past and present, have worked tirelessly over the last year to bring about this momentous change in housing policy.
“We are very grateful for the support we have received from the public, other elected members and most especially for the time and consideration given to our proposal by the Scottish Government.
“Whilst there are still a few details yet to be worked we hope this will be the way forward to ensure the housing market is rebalanced to be more in favour of providing locally affordable homes in the strath.
“This is definitely not an attack on our essential tourism marketplace but something which will be beneficial for all of us.”
Campaigners hope that the move will help make homes more affordable for locals unable to compete financially with the demand for short-term lets because of the booming popularity of Airbnb, Booking.com and other online platforms.
But Mark Tate, Cairngorm Business Partnership chief executive, believes that the go-ahead will hurt the local economy and said that this was already happening.
Many of the short term lets, he believes, will simply become second homes which are empty for large parts of the year.
Mr Tate said: “Approval was expected and continues to cause significant doubt and uncertainty for local residents who operate visitor accommodation.
“Some operators have already withdrawn from the market, with many of those properties becoming second homes massively reducing the economic impact of those properties.
“We fully agree that an absolute focus should be given to protecting homes that are affordable to locals.
“We do not think that this move will help in any significant way to meet that challenge, especially when compared to the economic harm we are already seeing.
“Highland Council is currently consulting on the planning policies that would support the control zone and we would strongly urge them to quickly rule out any use of the move to refuse permission for existing providers.”
Scottish Government planners notified the council that its reasons for the zone had been approved.
Ministers said they had carefully considered all the evidence presented to them including the council’s Statement of Reasons for the designation.
They agreed the council's planning authority had taken account of the views expressed in public consultation and considered this with any
other relevant evidence, and had arrived at 'a reasoned decision'.
A Scottish Government planning spokeswoman said: "The planning authority proposes to designate the control area in order to manage high concentrations of short term lets across the ward, ensure homes and land are used to best effect, and control secondary letting of dwelling houses to protect neighbouring residential amenity.
"Ministers consider that these are valid reasons to propose the designation, and conclude that the proposed designation would be justified and
reasonable."
She added: "Following the submission of the council’s request to Ministers, further correspondence has been received from Shepherd & Wedderburn on behalf of Airbnb.
"Ministers have taken this correspondence into account in this decision on the proposed designation.
"The correspondence does not alter Ministers’ view that the proposed designation of the short term lets control area is justified and reasonable."
Related articles:
Scottish Ministers give go-ahead for Scotland's second short term lets control area
Opinion split down the middle on whether short term let zone is a good thing for the strath
'Bold bid' to tackle affordable homes shortage in Badenoch and Strathspey
Highland Council set out its proposed policy earlier this month for how the STL control area will be implemented.
For a change of use to be acceptable under the terms of the draft policy an established short-term let property must have been trading prior to September 9, 2021 and the property had to be built prior to the adoption of the council LHS (Local Housing Strategy) on December 6, 2017.
Before designating the short-term let control area, the planning authority must publish notice of the designation.
Edinburgh City was given the go-ahead in July to create a short term lets control area.
