Hi All,
Firstly great to have a place for drone users to come together!
Basically birmingham city council have decided to ban drones from their parks and I was wondering if anyone has either looked into this or had experience with why they have banned such. The bylaws was issues in 2019 and refers to drones over the 249g I use, however it is very unclear as to why there is a requirement to be a member of a club? The reason for this is that the club close to me, makes no effort in welcoming new members or even answers any form of approach, email address comes back as unknown, the website has no number and the members form is useless, fails to send the information which is not secured by https either. Basically, it appears to be a monopoly of a few people keeping it for themselves. What is that all about.
Anyway, with the commonwealth games no fly areas are about to kick in, fair enough. Yet, a good time to have a look at these grossly unfair bylaws.
Interested in your input and what possible actions we can take.
Many, many thanks for your time and effort, much appreciated.
I myself cannot find the document when searching google and it could be that although this was described as a bylaw is actually only a policy.
Amazing you acted so quickly, as others have had this problem and not had the good fortune of such a forum as here. Meaning, they have either travelled elsewhere or tried to join a model aircraft club, only to be even more frustrated.
I’ve just read through that document and although most of it appears to be directed at RC aircraft and drones above 249g, can’t actually see anything of reverence to lighter drones, a little bit of common sense in planning and you should be able to fly safely just not in their parks and recreation grounds. As for the snobbery clubs, only one club will triumph over them and this one is a lot more helpful and friendlier
Yes, completely agree on the common sense, the park I use has masses of space away from anyone else. However it’s more when wanting to learn from others, maybe have some training, do some flight plans and slowly progress towards a professional status, certain people will unfortunately always make it difficult and report you for nothing and worse abuse their knowledge (even when wrong) over an inexperienced and newbie just wanting to have fun. DJ Audit videos are full of examples. Much can be said on these topics and I am sure it will be the more the drones test the laws, regulations and standards surrounding this topic.
I very much look forward to being a part of the community here and thanks once more for your input. So important at a time even the CAA is reviewing the next steps.
The Birmingham CC document is a “Policy” which in itself is not a law or bylaw. They then go on to quote a Bylaw from 1927. Section 6 of that refers to the banning of “vehicles”. They have wrongly ( or deliberately) interpreted a model aircraft as being a “vehicle” when the legal definition of a “vehicle” is something used for transportation. Read the whole document. Whoever wrote this must have had their tongue in cheek to think this could apply to 249g drones, or would stand up to scrutiny in a court.
Their policy position is incoherent (Refers to the superseded ANO 2009 and then later the current ANO 2016 without specifying they’re now referring to articles from that), and as mentioned above their interpretation of a “vehicle” applying to a drone or model aircraft is ridiculous and wouldn’t stand up at all if they tried to enforce it that way.
The case law (Hall v. Beckenham Corporation 1949) for flying model aircraft in a council park, in absence of a byelaw specifically prohibiting it, is that they can’t refuse or interfere and that the council is not an ordinary landowner in this respect, they are merely trustees of the land for benefit of public use.
Thanks for you input and a very interesting one too, as I just watched a YouTube video from Mr MPW „can you flyover drone from a public footpath“ and he states in his opinion no we can’t.
We would have to ask the owner and as you mentioned not always easy to establish this. Especially when councils are not looking at this from a positive and how can we oblige, more no. Reminds me of many other areas in life that authority just say no and expect us to accept it. Times have fortunately changed and we do have more of a say, even though this can take years to make changes.
My point being the status of where we are at is close to either an instant ban on drones or an opportunity for all parties I.e. community, CAA, government, manufacturers, basically anyone with an interest to make this work in a sensible and common sense approach.
I can understand the frustration currently with where is it possible to fly and where not and the YouTubers pushing the limits.
Again, thanks for your input, time and energy. I hope there is a positive solution/guidelines soon,
More recently on a podcast hosted by his own company with an actual barrister who is a hobbyist drone pilot, the barrister disagreed with respect to it being trespass to take off from PROW like a footpath. See this thread.
They have no bylaws regarding drones in place, they may have a policy but is it enforceable in law?? Many policies are not…The usual local council ploy is to baffle and frighten peeps with BS but they know it is just that…Response all information to be supplied.pdf
