Councillors have rejected plans for Scotland’s third short-term let control area in Perthshire.
The zone would have required owners to obtain planning permission if they wanted to turn their homes into holiday rentals and let them out via platforms such as Airbnb and Booking.com.
Supporters said it would have helped to address a shortage of affordable homes in highland Perthshire and parts of eastern Perthshire.
But the proposal was knocked back by Perth and Kinross Council’s environment and infrastructure committee on Wednesday.
Opponents said it would harm tourism, a vital source of income in areas such as Pitlochry, Aberfeldy and Dunkeld.
They raised concerns about parts of Perthshire which are also facing housing pressures but were not included in the proposed zone, such as Comrie.
And they successfully argued a short-term let control area was not the solution to Perthshire’s rural housing crisis.
Instead, they said, the council should be looking to up the supply of affordable homes for key workers.
The proposal was defeated by eight votes to seven.
‘Perthshire short-term let control area would not help key workers’
Perth and Kinross Council already operates a short-term let licensing scheme..
Anyone letting out their property to paying guests has been required to get a licence since 2022.
But currently only flat-owners are explicitly required to apply for change of use planning permission as well.
More than half the applications for short-term let licence applications in Perth and Kinross are coming from highland and eastern Perthshire.
These areas also have the highest proportion of second homes.
And campaigners say rising house prices and a shortage of affordable housing are making it increasingly difficult for people to live and work there.
Conservative councillor Angus Forbes put forward the amendment which led to the proposal being rejected.
He said the scheme would “most certainly not provide houses for the nurses, the estate workers and the restaurant workers”.
“Unless we double their salaries, or reduce the value of the houses in this area, they will not be getting any houses out of this,” he said.
“Our problem here is we need to build more houses.
“We have failed to build houses, and we continue to fail to build houses. And until we do so we are not going to solve this problem.”
View mixed among public
The Scottish Government gave councils the power to introduce short-term let control areas in April 2021.
So far, just two have been created – in Edinburgh and in Badenoch and Strathspey.
Perth and Kinross Council consulted the public on the proposal.
It received a total of 334 responses, including 224 from residents and 95 from business owners.
More than half (53%) were in favour of a short-term let control area.
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