Skye: New short-term lets control zone 'may be justified' in tourism hot-spot

The report produced by the Highland Council covers both the isles of Skye and Raasay and is due to be considered by councillors next week.

A short-term lets control area would be designed to crack down on those wanting to open Airbnb-style accommodation.

If the same rules were to be applied as in Edinburgh, the zone would mean all secondary lets, which is the use of a dwelling that is not a principal home, would require a licence and planning permission.

READ MORE: Short-term letting system in Edinburgh has been set up to fail

Newly-built houses on both islands are becoming short-term lets in 15.5 per cent of cases, the report said - a higher rate than the Highlands overall.

The council report said there was a higher proportions of sales to buyers from outside the area.

"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 [STLs] in Skye and Raasay, particularly in the most western areas,” the report said.

Council officers added: "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.”

Skye Connect, the island’s destination management organisation, was contacted for comment.

Such is the popularity of Skye that visitor numbers increased by almost a third since 2019 to 857,000 last year, according to the Scottish Tourism Alliance.

Councillors serving Wester Ross, Strathpeffer and Lochalsh earlier this month voted to consider introducing a short-term let control area to counter a lack of housing for local people.

Councillor Isabelle Campbell, co-chair of the Wester Ross, Strathpeffer and Lochalsh Committee, said at the time: “We feel that this is worth taking a closer look now, because the overall indicators suggest that in general, both the Ross and Cromarty West and Skye and Lochalsh housing market areas are less affordable and have higher rates of STLs and second homes than Highland as a whole.”

The council said that, specifically in Skye and Lochalsh, 17 per cent of “potential dwellings” were STLs.

Council officials had previously been asked to investigate having a short-term lets control zone that covered the entirety of the Highlands. But they instead determined individual areas of Highland Council should be left to make their decisions on whether to limit holiday lets.

Caithness had been ruled out as a location to be covered by any control zone, given only 2 per cent of potential dwellings were licensed as short-term lets.

Scottish Labour candidate for Inverness and Nairn, Shaun Fraser, has previously pushed the proposal of a tourist tax for the Highlands, arguing the region’s roads, particularly the North Coast 500, could no longer handle the influx of traffic.

Business leaders on Skye have pushed for a tax on motorhome users. Simon Cousins, of Skye Connect, previously said a motorhome charge could potentially raise “millions of pounds” for the island.