Can we start making a list of huts in Scotland built or pending under the new hutting legislation. Preferably with reference number for the planning application.
We have six huts almost completed on The Solway Coast in Dumfries and Galloway.
Go to Dumfries and Galloway web site. Go to planning and "Search Planning Applications" Put in reference 18/1031/FUL or just type in Torr, Auchencairn.
Should com up with "Erection of 6 Recreational Accomodation Huts"
Sure we have but our careers are less than stable (although the only stable job for life in the UK these days is retirement LOL). I guess many other folk have a similar situation so committing to an ongoing cost ,raising your expenditure baseline when you don't know if you will have any income at all tomorrow is a tough call.
Live long enough and the cyclical story of having a good job today and being refused a job serving coffee tomorrow is very common and all too familiar to many of us.
I think hutting is an easier shoe in for retiree's from a time versus money point of view. But will not be a universal panacea or completely hassle free for these guys either. As you point out oldtor is a good example of how entry can be eased to a degree. I think there are others too.
The question then is how do we broaden the appeal and reduce the bar to entry for everyone especially young folk and folk of family producing ages who might arguably benefit greatly from it. I am BTW not proposing any answers here just laying out the situation.
I feel that the community spirit is a big plus, as well as the outlook of those already hutting, plus the benefits of the lifestyle. A newcomer though is not necessarily going to get all of this till they have experienced it one way or another. experiencing it is perhaps the best publicity then.
A setup that is all short term lets may not be appreciably different from a caravan park. There is then a good argument for mixed use that promotes the pluses of hutting. Maybe with the odd tent camping spot interspersed or even a bothy if on or close to a hiking/biking trail.
Scotland is most definitely as you have observed, ahead of the game in terms of open access, bothying, hutting and wild camping.