Highland councillors are due to decide whether proposed short-term let control areas covering Inverness and a large part of the rural Highlands should be submitted to Scottish Ministers.
A special Economy and Infrastructure Committee meeting has been called for 28 September following consultation on two proposed control areas.
The Inverness proposal covers the city wards and parts of Inverness South, while the much larger Highland Rural area would include Lochaber; Wester Ross, Strathpeffer and Lochalsh; Sutherland; Skye and Raasay; Aird and Loch Ness; and rural parts of Inverness South including Tomatin and Daviot.
Designation would mean that new changes from ordinary houses or flats into short-term lets would require planning permission within the affected area. The mechanism is intended to give the council greater control where visitor accommodation and permanent housing compete for the same stock.
The decision arrives alongside a separate Highland proposal for a tiered fixed visitor levy, currently under statutory consultation and estimated by the council to have the potential to raise around £9 million annually.
Together, the two processes represent a significant change in the way Highland is considering the consequences of tourism: one concerns the use of homes, the other the raising and reinvestment of money from overnight visitors. Neither has yet completed the required decision-making process.
