Appendix 2 - Objection Letter Mr Hayes
Perth and Kinross Council · 30 January 2024
Back to Licensing Committee — 30 January 2024 and its agenda
Text extracted from the council's PDF. Layout and reading order may differ from the original.
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1 Civic Licensing From: john hayes Sent: 15 September 2023 19:00 To: CDS STL Subject: Representation ref short term let 5 Craigower Crescent Pitlochry PH165HS Attachments: No 5.docx Follow Up Flag: Follow up Flag Status: Completed CAUTION: This email originated from an external organisation. Do not follow guidance, click links, or open attachments unless you have verified the sender and know the content is safe. Dear Sir/Madam, Please find attachment regarding our objection to the STL application for 5 Craigower Crescent Pitlochry. Should you require any further information or clarification, please don't hesitate to ask. Many thanks and kind regards, John Hayes 10 Craigower Crescent, Pitlochry
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To Whom it may concern, In response to the short term let planning applicaƟon for 5 Craigower Crescent, Pitlochry PH165HS, I wish to object to the granƟng of this licence for the reasons I hope to make obvious below. My name is John Hayes of 10 Craigower Crescent, Pitlochry PH165HS and I represent all who reside here. In the first instance, I wish to quesƟon the validity of the applicaƟon. Both the Applicant address and the Day to Day manager/Agent address are both listed as the premises to be let? My understanding is that both should list the primary residences of these people if different. The Seaton’s are non-domiciled in the UK and their primary address of residence is in Spain therefore I’m quite confused as I can’t imagine they will reside at No 5 Craigower Crescent while they are leƫng the premises? Please advise. We ALREADY have a short term let operaƟng in the adjoining property next door to us and No 5 Craigower is IMMEDIATELY opposite us. The term under siege comes to mind. In a previous leƩer that we have sent you, we detailed the inconveniences of having such an enterprise on our doorstep, constant requests for assistance, cigareƩe buƩs over the wall, cannabis smoke, guests arguing, unveƩed strangers every two days etc. To have it once is puniƟve, to have it twice is downright draconian. It is criƟcal that you understand that this is a 1950’s-built crescent of council houses, we have one narrow street with eleven houses. Vehicle ownership was sporadic back when it was designed and certainly not prolific among council estates. It is simply not designed for the traffic it currently gets. Our street demographic today has elderly and infirm residents and we at number 10 have three young children. Our road is the Southern access point for the second biggest kids’ playpark in our town, colloquially known as the “Ambi” park as the ambulance staƟon used be based here. The Ambulance staƟon has now been replaced with the Veterinary Surgery, an essenƟal local service given the rural locaƟon of where we live but this already draws risk for all. Emergency services for working animals and livestock bring 4x4’s through daily – and at pace. It is already a slalom with the long-term residents parking their vehicles on the street but consider that recreaƟonal short term lets tend to bring mulƟple vehicles to a site with families wanƟng to meet up due to the very nature of a holiday, we already have this happening next door and to grant this licence will only bring more traffic and greater risk to all. Ingress and egress to my property is already a nightmare. A very typical example can be seen in the below pictures I’ve taken, all in the last 15 minutes while I’ve been typing this leƩer. Firstly on the leŌ we have some visitors for No 5 (the blue car on the leŌ is the cleaner’s car for the short term let next door at No 8, note the vacant driveway) and secondly, on the right we have a delivery for No 5.
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The owners of No 5 do not use their driveway for parking, preferring the street - fair enough, but since their arrival back to the UK this summer to renovate their house for leƫng I frequently need to ask tradesmen, family and visitors to No 5 if they can move their vehicles so I can exit my driveway or so I can access my driveway to keep one less vehicle on the street. I’m Ɵred of being asked “are you going anywhere for the next while?” Maybe I am, maybe I’m not, but I’d sure prefer not to have to ask for permission. Why would you add to this? The kids simply cannot play on the street. The bigger picture: Who benefits? Not I, but more importantly, not my community. It’s well documented that Pitlochry is overserviced with short term lets (proporƟonally far more than even Edinburgh). AirBnB is not a holiday company, it is an extracƟon industry that mines the established communiƟes of this country. A very short walk in any direcƟon here and you can easily spot its impact, bricked or gravelled low maintenance gardens devoid of any children’s toys and the tell-tale key box on the door frame. A great current example is that my barber has been evicted to the benefit of yet another absentee landlord who has seen a crowded marketplace and declared “Me Too”. Four Ɵmes annual rent can easily be achieved here, local services ARE being affected. There’s not a shop or hostelry in town that does not have a sign in the
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window that says, “Staff wanted – Top rates paid” On the face of it, this looks great, but all of these costs are passed on. Prices have gone so high from the tourist dollar that locals cannot afford to use some local services. WaiƟng staff and hotel staff are now bussed in from Dundee, Perth and SƟrling owing to a complete lack of housing stock due to short term lets. AirBnB whole property lisƟngs per 100 properƟes (2022) - 36 lisƟngs from 100 properƟes, we have the highest concentraƟon in the UK already. Pitlochry at the last census had a populaƟon of 2880, this community is at breaking point due to this phenomenon. The granƟng of more licences is not the answer! Poor planning choices obviously leave a disastrous legacy, local long-term housing stock is already just a memory. There is no new build in Pitlochry and anything that has been built in the past few years has been a sporadic 4 or 8 plots, incapable of even scratching at the demand and none of it has been remotely affordable. A look in any of the 3 estate agents windows in our town fills me with dread. My children will never be able to afford to live where they grow up or at least it becomes far more unlikely with each short Ɵme let licence granted. Please consider that where we live is the (relaƟvely) more affordable part of our town where properƟes do churn and people historically begin their first step on the property ladder …. EXACTLY as both the landlords applying for these licences on our street did. If granted, these licences remove two vital steppingstones from our community and turn them to commercial assets, to all intents and purposes, a re-zoning. In all of this, the part I find completely odd is that we have never been approached by any applicant for our experiences or opinions on living next to a short term let, what works, what doesn’t, how could things be beƩer and more harmonious?? I understand that there is no obligaƟon on an applicant to do so but I would consider this not just a courtesy that costs nothing but basic due diligence for a business venture, if only to miƟgate for any objecƟons such as this. With this somewhat lack of consideraƟon for the residents and the applicant being resident abroad, I really struggle to find confidence that when issues arise, they will be dealt with in a Ɵmely and saƟsfactory manner should this licence be granted. Many thanks for taking the Ɵme to read this, Kind regards, John, Joan, Eva, Orla, Flora