Development guidance - Rural Housing
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Description
The Council is supportive of new rural housing which safeguards, supports and sustains Highland rural communities and encourages people to live and work in healthy, high quality environments. To achieve this, the Council has adopted its Rural Housing Supplementary Guidance to provide detailed advice on acceptable locations for new house sites and advice on the siting and design of new housing.
The guidance relates to the area covered by the Highland-wide Local Development Plan and the associated Area Local Development Plans. For proposals within the Cairngorms National Park Authority (CNPA) area please refer to the Cairngorms National Park Local Development Plan and their associated Planning Guidance for relevant planning policies and advice.
In the consideration of new rural housing, the Council operates a two-tier policy approach, with the majority of rural Highland being classed as ‘wider countryside’, whilst the commutable areas of the Inner Moray Firth and Fort William are defined as ‘hinterland’. Within each area, different policy advice is applicable, which is outlined within the Rural Housing Supplementary Guidance. The link below opens an interactive map to assist in identifying the boundaries of each of these areas
Adopted Supplementary Guidance (2021)
The Rural Housing Supplementary Guidance was adopted by Highland Council on 10th December 2021 and now forms part of the Council’s Development Plan, which is used to determine planning applications. Approval to adopt the guidance was granted by Members of the Highland Council’s Economy and Infrastructure Committee on 1st September 2021 and Scottish Ministers on 1st November 2021.
Self-Build Housing
Rural self-build housing has always been an important part of house building across the Highlands, as such, the Council is keen to encourage appropriate self-build opportunities and has developed a dedicated webpage (including the creation of a ‘Self-Build Register’) to support this form of development.
Pre-application Planning Advice
The Council strongly welcomes the opportunity to provide pre-application advice on both siting and design before any formal planning application is submitted, information about how to do this can be found on the Council's website.
Strategic Environmental Assessment