Potential Airbnb-style lets control zone for Skye and Raasay

Plans are to be progressed for a potential control zone for Skye and Raasay

Councillors have agreed a short-term lets control area should be considered for the isles of Skye and Raasay.

If it was introduced, AirBnB-style properties would need planning permission.

In a report, which went before Highland Council's Skye and Raasay committee, officials said new-build housing completions on the islands were transferring to short-term letting at a higher rate - 15.5% - than the Highlands as a whole.

Skye and Raasay are home to about 10,500 people and tourism is a major industry with almost 800,000 visitors spending about £119m in the area, according to a recent Highland Community Planning Partnership report.

Chrissie Gillies, Independent councillor for Skye and Raasay, said the move would not affect properties that were already short-term lets.

She said the focus was also on houses rather than holiday pods or chalets.

The councillor added: "It's one way of trying to support our local communities to be able to have a home to live in year round."

In the report, officers said: "Relative to other areas of Highland, and to Highland as a whole, there is a high rate of potential dwellings being used as short-term lets in Skye and Raasay, particularly in the most western areas."

The officials said an assessment of the local housing market had indicated that there were less affordable properties than other areas of Highland, and higher proportions of sales to buyers outside the area.

"On balance, the evidence at this time indicates that the establishment of a short-term lets control areas may be justified in Skye and Raasay," the officers said.

Highland Council said further evidence gathering and public consultation would now take place before any final decision was taken on introducing controls.

The Association of Scotland's Self-Caterers (ASSC) has criticised the move.

Chief executive Fiona Campbell claimed the proposals were not justified by "robust evidence".

She added: "Moreover, targeting small businesses as a means of addressing longstanding housing issues – especially when there are a larger number of empty homes across the Highlands – shows a muddled sense of priorities.

"The Highlands relies on tourism and self-catering is an integral component of the visitor accommodation mix."

Councillors in Sutherland have also agreed to progress plans for a potential control zone in their area.

Officials reported that more than 50% of house sales in the last four years within Sutherland had been from buyers living outwith the Highlands, Scotland or the UK.

They said the situation had left almost half of local residents unable to afford an entry level home, a council report has revealed.

Councillors agreed the first steps to making Sutherland a short-term let control area should be taken.

Councillors agreed in September that individual areas of Highland Council should be left to make decisions on whether to limit holiday lets.

Officials were asked to investigate the potential of a Highland-wide control zone on short-term lets as a way of tackling a shortage of homes across the region.

But officers said their research suggested there would not be region-wide support for such a scheme.

Instead they recommended a more "tailored approach" where area committees decided on any measures.

Earlier this year, Highland councillors agreed work should be done to develop plans for a short-term lets control area in Lochaber but ruled out a similar more for Caithness.

Councillors also agreed that a control area should be considered to cover all or parts of Wester Ross, Strathpeffer and Lochalsh.

Additional reporting by local democracy journalist Olivia Andrews.