Short term holiday let owners in Edinburgh have been dealt a blow after councillors rejected 18 separate appeals in one meeting today.
Operators of the holiday homes had challenged the decision of planners to refuse permission for them to carry on renting them out because of the impact on residential housing.
Concerns over the loss of long term housing and impact on the amenity of neighbours saw the owners of the short term lets refused a change of use application for their homes.
And in an additional statement at today’s meeting of the local authority’s Local Review Body, councillors said flats in conservation areas across the city should be refused use as holiday lets to “preserve the presence of residential communities”.
Councillors said that in areas where residential areas were established it was important to protect them and stop accommodation being lost to holiday lets.
Among appeals rejected by the review body was one for a flat in a block on James Court, overlooking the Royal Mile, which had one owner who argued that since all flats in the block were short term lets it did not impact on any neighbours.
Despite sympathising with the owner whose other flats were awaiting the outcome of separate applications in the planning system, councillors ruled it was still a loss of valuable residential accommodation.
Two flats in Canongate and two in Kings Stable Road also saw their appeals rejected with the additional reason of preserving their residential communities.
A flat in Portobello, where the owner had argued it was different to the city and not part of the “Royal Mile Party Zone” was rejected with one councillor saying she did not even know such a ‘party zone’ existed.
And a house in South Queensferry on Villa Road where owners argued their main door property had operated without any problems for three years was also rejected over the loss of residential housing.
A number of owners raised the fact they had been granted licences to operate their properties as short term lets but planners said that did not have any influence on the review body’s decisions.
No appeals put before the review body were approved during today’s meeting.
By Marie Sharp Local Democracy Reporter
The Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) is a public service news agency. It is funded by the BBC, provided by the local news sector (in Edinburgh that is Reach plc (the publisher behind Edinburgh Live and The Daily Record) and used by many qualifying partners. Local Democracy Reporters cover news about top-tier local authorities and other public service organisations.
