Short Term Let Control Areas

Proposed Control Area - Badenoch and Strathspey (Ward 20)

December 2022 update

The Council is awaiting Scottish Ministers' decision on whether to support our proposal to designate Ward 20 (Badenoch and Strathspey) as a Short-term Let Control Area. Before a decision is made we will develop planning policies to deal with the applications that the Short-term Let Control Area would create.

On 8 December 2022, we launched an online consultation on these proposed planning policies and welcome any comments you may have on them.

All comments received will be reviewed and a summary of the main issues will be presented to Elected Members to consider and agree the final version.

Comments must be submitted in writing no later than 3 February 2023.

View the consultation

View the proposed planning policy

Should Scottish Ministers not support the Council proposal to designate Badenoch and Strathspey as a Short-term Let Control Area, these planning policies will not be adopted by the Council.

At the Highland Council meeting on 9 September 2021 at the specific request of all Ward 20 Members, it was agreed that we would pursue the consideration of establishing a Short-term Let Control Area across Badenoch and Strathspey. This detailed consideration was undertaken at the Economy and Infrastructure Committee (ECI) meeting on 2 December 2021, where a detailed report outlining the issues secondary letting is having across Badenoch and Strathspey was presented. Members thereby agreed to pursue the establishment of the Short-term Let Control Area for Ward 20: Badenoch and Strathspey.

During the 6 weeks public consultation period, 332 representations were received. These have now been considered and analysed, with a summary prepared of the key themes. Based on this feedback, a report was presented to Council on 30 June 2022. Elected Members agreed the Council would progress with the establishment of a Short-term Let Control Area covering Ward 20: Badenoch and Strathspey. As part of the Committee Report, an updated Statement of Reasons has been prepared.

We will now submit the request to establish Ward 20: Badenoch and Strathspey as a Short-term Let Control Area.

If a short-term let control area is approved for Ward 20: Badenoch and Strathspey following public consultation by the Council and by the Scottish Government, a dwellinghouse used for secondary letting on a short-term let basis will be deemed to be a "material change of use" which will require planning approval.

However, a Short-term Let Control Area is not a ban on short-term lets, instead it will allow planning policies to be used to assess applications which change the use of a dwellinghouse to this form of use and allow communities and individuals the right to make representations through the planning application process.

The project is supported by the following:

A copy of the Statement of Reasons including a map of the proposed area of designation area will be available at libraries within the proposed Short-term Let Control Area.

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