The consultation would ask whether Short-Term Let Control Areas should be introduced in Highland and Eastern Perthshire, requiring the submission of a planning application for change of use.

Members of the Environment, Infrastructure and Economic Development Committee will hear that these are the two areas in Perth and Kinross with the highest number of properties let as holiday homes.

When the council held an engagement exercise for the new Perth and Kinross Local Housing Strategy 2022-27 last year, the availability and affordability of housing was a top concern of Perth and Kinross residents. The growth of short-term lets in recent years was highlighted as a contributing factor by some communities.

Community groups in places where tourism is an important part of the economy said that a lack of affordable housing was impacting the ability of people to find suitable homes locally, particularly younger and older people. Businesses said that a lack of available housing was also affecting their ability to recruit staff, or provide services in the communities where they are needed.

As a result, the Local Housing Strategy 2022-2027 included an action to understand the level of short-term lets in Perth and Kinross along with their impact on communities.

A meeting of the Environment, Infrastructure and Economic Development Committee on Wednesday 31st May will be asked to approve the eight-week consultation which will ask local people, businesses and community organisations what they think about the idea of Short-Term Let Control Areas in Highland and Eastern Perthshire.

Committee convener, depute provost Andrew Parrott, said: “It is important to highlight that at this stage we are only asking for approval for a consultation in principle. No position has been taken by the Council on Short-Term Let Control Areas and no decisions have been reached.

“The feedback we receive through the consultation would allow us to consider a way forward. It would be essential that any control area policy balances the positive contribution of short-term lets to our rural economy against the reducing supply of permanent housing.

“There would need to be a balance in some communities between people who rely on an income from their short-term let, and those who are concerned that more housing should be retained as homes for local people.

“A control area would not operate as a complete ban on short-term lets, rather as a means of limiting planning permissions to circumstances where the loss of a home would be outweighed by the economic benefit to the local community.”

He added: “What people told us during the Local Housing Strategy engagement last year indicates that short-term lets are an issue for some communities in Perth and Kinross, and this needs to be examined further.

“If the consultation is approved by committee I would encourage everyone with an interest in the issue to make their views known, so that we have as much information as possible to consider an evidence-based way forward on this important issue.”