The Association of Scotland’s Self-Caterers (ASSC) has strongly condemned Highland Council’s newly launched consultations on proposed Short-Term Let Control Areas (PCAs) as a “sham” built on unevidenced and economically reckless policymaking.
Two consultations for proposed short-term let control areas covering huge swathes of the Highlands – which includes multiple wards in Inverness City and Highland Rural – opened today and will run until 23 June 2026.
The trade body warned that the proposals represent a direct attack on lawful tourism businesses across the Highlands and vowed that any unlawful implementation will be challenged in court.
The ASSC said the Council should be focused on the serious economic harm these proposals threaten to inflict on Highland communities rather than pursuing ideological policymaking unsupported by evidence.
The ASSC also accused Highland Council of disregarding established legal precedent. Despite repeated public assurances from councillors that existing operators have nothing to fear, the ASSC has spoken directly with officials who remain adamant that any secondary let within a PCA will require planning permission because of mandatory Condition 13 attached to short-term let licensing.
The trade body says that position flies directly in the face of the landmark Muirhead judicial review from 2023, which was successfully argued before the Court of Session.
The ASSC further warned that the proposals risk devastating already fragile rural economies, reducing visitor accommodation capacity, undermining tourism investment, and threatening livelihoods across the Highlands. Self-catering alone contributes approximately £200m per annum to the Highland economy, supporting jobs, local supply chains, and rural sustainability.
The ASSC is therefore urging businesses, residents, and stakeholders across the Highlands to engage fully with the consultations and oppose proposals which it says are economically dangerous, legally questionable, and entirely unsupported by evidence.
Fiona Campbell MBE, Chief Executive of the ASSC, said:
“There is zero evidence that Planning Control Areas increase affordable housing, reduce rents, or solve the housing crisis. None. Highland Council is attempting to sell the public a fantasy through this sham consultation while knowingly risking enormous damage to local tourism economies and small businesses. This is not evidence-based policymaking, it is political theatre.”
“It is astonishing that Highland Council appears prepared to ignore a Court of Session ruling and continue promoting an interpretation that has already been challenged and defeated in court. If the Council persists with an unlawful approach, it should be under no illusion that further legal action will follow.”
“The Council needs to ask itself some basic questions: where is the economic impact assessment on the damage these proposals could cause? Where’s the plan to change the Highland’s unwanted position of Scotland’s empty homes hotspot?
“Communities deserve serious housing solutions, not performative policymaking designed to scapegoat self-catering businesses for decades of wider housing failure.”