Perth and Kinross Council will launch a consultation on a proposal to introduce a short-term let control area in Highland Perthshire and part of Eastern Perthshire.
On Wednesday, May 31 councillors on PKC's Environment, Infrastructure and Economic Development Committee voted narrowly by eight votes to seven to proceed.
The eight-week consultation will run from June 2 to July 28.
Conservative and Independent councillors wanted to delay the consultation until the council had a clearer idea of how many short-term lets there were in the area and where but were outvoted.
Figures put before the committee showed there had been a 25 per increase in self-catering units in Perth and Kinross over five years.
PKC's head of Planning and Development David Littlejohn told the committee the data was based on based on those paying business rates because you have to pay business rates if renting out a property for more than 70 nights a year.
The data showed the number of self-catering units in Perth and Kinross had risen from 843 in 2017 to 1054 in 2021. The table also listed 1014 AirBnB lets listed in 2021 but this appeared to be separate from the overall figure.
Conservative councillor Frank Smith asked how many short-term lets there were in Perth and Kinross and was told by officers: "We don't know."
Convener Andrew Parrott tabled a motion to proceed with the consultation. This was seconded by Highland Perthshire Bailie Mike Williamson who saw it as "moving away from destination promotion to destination management".
Conservative Carse of Gowrie councillor Angus Forbes tabled an amendment which called for a delay until after October 1, 2023 which is the deadline for when all short-term let licence applications have to be made.
He said: "This document is bursting at the seams with data - data that’s very complex and difficult for lay people like us to understand. What it’s lacking in my opinion is hard evidence.
"We don’t know how many short-term lets there are in Perth and Kinross. We don’t know how many houses this will bring back to the affordable housing market. We don’t even know how many houses have been sold in the proposed control area and what the average price was."
He added: "No one denies there is a shortage of housing but this document doesn’t tell us if the problem lies with the short-term let market - my feeling is that it doesn’t.
"I am at a loss as to why the administration didn’t leave this until at least October when we will have more accurate data."
Seconding it, Independent councillor Dave Cuthbert said: "In principle, I'm fully supportive of the concept of controlled areas.
"The issue I have is we're not giving statistics time to come in. There could be other communities in Perth and Kinross. We should be doing this in planned way - looking at the statistics and where we should be putting in these planned zones."
SNP council leader Grant Laing invited anyone who supported the amendment to come to Dunkeld and Birnam in his Strathtay ward "and learn first-hand rather than looking from further afield at this problem".
Highland Perthshire Conservative councillor John Duff said: "Representing the Highland Ward, I fully appreciate the issues surrounding a lack of affordable housing. However, this is a big decision for the committee and ought to be made with the benefit of the best and most accurate data and evidence that we can obtain."
Cllr Duff referred to an earlier paper in the meeting on developer contributions.
He said: "It states: '...there is a continuing need for affordable housing with significant and ongoing levels of unmet affordable housing needs existing across Perth and Kinross, particularly in the Greater Perth Housing Market Area'.
"And yet there is no mention in this paper of including the Greater Perth Housing Market Area in any establishment of Control Zones. I think this shows that the data being presented today is incomplete and that we should wait for more accurate data coming from the registration process."
Bailie Alasdair Bailey said there was a "stark" need for housing in Perth and Kinross and put his support behind the motion.
Listing the need for housing for staff in childcare, hospitality, health and social care, the Labour councillor added: "There are the operators of short-term lets who can’t get staff to clean those very same short-term lets. I’ll pause there. Yes, short-term lets are occupying the very properties that the people who service them would like to live in."
Councillors voted by eight votes to seven to proceed with the consultation.
Comments will now be collected through the consultation hub from Friday, June 2 for eight weeks. Responses will be analysed and reported back to the committee following the summer recess.
