Councillors have agreed to let a Pitlochry landlord run a five-star holiday let from a flat in the town.
It comes after a retrospective application for the business was rejected by another group of councillors.
The first floor flat on Pitlochry’s Atholl Road has been used as a short-term let since 2021.
It has a five star rating on Airbnb and a 9.5/10 on Booking.com.
The owner made a successful appeal to Perth and Kinross Council, arguing that a similar property had been permitted nearby.
In her appeal to the Local Review Body, the applicant said it was “literally almost identical to mine in description, location and intent – just a few doors down from my property”.
The two-bedroomed flat has a dedicated street entrance door on Rie-Achan Road.
Perth and Kinross Council refused a retrospective application for planning consent in July 2023.
There is a shortage of affordable housing in the Perthshire tourist town. And planners said there was no “demonstrable local economic benefit” to outweigh “the loss of such a mainstream housing unit”.
Planners also said the retrospective change of use “fails to contribute positively to the area in which it is located”.
Panel divided on Pitlochry Airbnb
SNP councillor Grant Stewart urged colleagues to reject the appeal when the Local Review Body met.
He said: “This was built as a house. And we know there are shortages of houses in certain areas of Perthshire.
“This would be taking away stock that people could use with sustainable travel – buses and a train station close at hand too.”
However, Conservative councillor Bob Brawn said: “I would suggest a temporary approval of five years so we can then review where we stand after that with regards short-terms lets and control areas.
“We’ll have some more information on statistics by that time.”
Fellow Conservative councillor David Illingworth agreed. He said: “We just don’t know that if this application was refused it would lead to more housing in the very very stretched local housing market.”
The councillors voted by two votes to one to grant temporary approval for five years.
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