These sessions are being run following the Highland Council committee’s decision on 14 December 2023 to designate the entire Ward 20 area as Short-term Let Control Area.

This means that after Monday 4 March 2024, the new use of a dwelling house for short-term letting, where the owner or occupier does not reside, will require planning permission before it can be used for that purpose.

Highland Council convener and Badenoch and Strathspey Area committee member, Cllr Bill Lobban, said: “I would encourage as many existing and prospective operators to attend either the online or face-to-face sessions before the changes finally come into force on 4 March.

“These sessions will be the final opportunity to speak directly to the officers and get answers to any of the questions people still have.”

Chair of Highland Council’s Economy and Infrastructure Committee, Cllr Ken Gowans, said: “It is pleasing to see we are almost at the ‘go-live’ stage for the Short-term Let Control Area for Ward 20.

“If it proves successful in Badenoch and Strathspey it could become a powerful tool Highland Council can utilise to address the imbalance in the housing market.”

Each of the three information sessions are open to short-term let operators and the public to attend.

One of the sessions will be hosted online, whilst the other two will be in-person events. Each event should last approximately two hours and details of each are outlined below:

• Online meeting at 3pm of 22nd February 2024 – this will be hosted on Microsoft Teams - If you can’t access via the link the Meeting ID is: 325 223 585 735 and the Passcode is: TTuJzy.
• In-person meeting in Aviemore Library at 2pm on 28th February 2024
• In-person meeting in Aviemore Library at 7pm on 28th February 2024

The council has received a large number of applications for planning permission and certificates of lawfulness as a result of the proposal to create the Short-term Let Control Area and the obligations for operators under The Civic Government (Scotland) Act 1982 (Licensing of Short-term Lets) Order 2022.

The council will be contacting applicants directly to explain the options and process moving forward.

As the information sessions are open for anyone to attend, the council will not be discussing individual planning and/or licensing applications during the information sessions. Any queries on these, should go through the normal communication channels.