Bournemouth Council?

I am new to flying drones but not to photography.
Today I decided to go out near the beach in Bournemouth to get some more practice so I don’t crash it and smash it to pieces or worse still damage a person or property.
Unsure if I was in a Nature Reserve or outside one I tried to find out the boundary of it but there is no map which is very handy, not.
So I decided to call the council’s leisure department which proved to be exasperating.
I was told by the pleasant young lady on the other end of the phone that ‘there is a bylaw in Bournemouth that Bans the flying of drones on the entire beachfront’…
Strange I thought as I’ve already investigated this and I’ve never come across this bylaw.
Well bless her because then she started adding things into the reasons why the bylaw was there including what I would presume was her own personal feeling about people who fly drones and why they fly them which came across to me as though so she thinks people who fly drones do it to spy on people and film them.
I had to stop myself going down the root of reminding her as soon as she stepped out her front door she’s probably on CCTV and everything she does online or with a mobile phone she’s also being spied on but no one seems to care about that. She also informed me that I’m not allowed to fly over anybody and I’m not allowed to point the camera at people etc etc.
I did ask her if she had taken a drone test and she said no so I suggested it might be a good idea because someone at Bournemouth council needs to actually know what the regulations are before they can tell people whether they are breaking them or not.
Anyway, back to reality, I checked the bylaw and there is not one so I phoned them back and they suggested I called their events department to book an event to fly my drone.
I am going to presume that councils around the country have not got a clue about drones and are totally unaware the CAA a runs airspace and they are also totally unaware of the new regulations.
After an hour of being on the phone phone and on the internet to actually find out what if any the rules are around where I live I gave up and came home.
I cannot blame the young girl on the end of the phone as she is just a council employee but councils really need to get their heads around what the regulations are and how they are going to comply in their area or at least tell drone flyers if there are rules and regulations that are legally binding or not.
Oh yeah and if you’re going to include areas where drones can’t be flown at least create a map so people can at least see and not imagine where the boundary is!

2 Likes

You may want to look at this post :

2 Likes

Our very own

I only phoned them up to see where Hengistbury Head nature reserve ends the rest she took upon herself to inform me about.

1 Like

Thank you for sending me that there are one or two locations I can go to on there!

1 Like

I was really wanting to draw your attention to the total contradiction …

… and …

3 Likes

I understood the irony. I suppose I’m hoping that councils or Council employees are members here and maybe talk to their employer about updating their information and making it a lot clearer.
If not it makes a mockery of bothering to take a CAA test of any sort if the council have got no idea what they’re doing and the information they are putting out to people is incorrect at the very least.

1 Like

The sad reality is that it is far easier to say no than t is to spend time checking details and making decisions.

When the dronecode came into being it set clear guidelines regarding heights and distances, Now, with various classifications of drones, categories for which no drones have not been produced, and no distinction between hobby and commercial flights the simple rules have become complicated. And pilot qualifications also affect the distance rules just check Good 2 Go to see the difference an A2 CofC and.or Article 16 Authorisation make.

So, faced with all this complexity and wishing to bring in bylaws to control the anti-social use of drones, which is easier - to draft laws that set conditions according to various classifications and qualifications or just issue a blanket ban? “No Flying Whatsoever” is a lot simpler to implement …

2 Likes

I did not want to even contact the council if it hadn’t been for the fact there’s not a map of telling me where the nature reserve ends I wouldn’t have because the only thing coincils do is interfere and make things worse and they like making names for themselves.
I even suggested to the young girl I was talking to that she became the council’s expert so at least they’ve got one person who knows what the regulations are to understand how safe it has become now.
Before I bought the mini 2 I looked at the rules and regulations and realised buying a drone over 250g would firstly prohibit where I could fly it and to be honest I didn’t want the expense that the new regulations would incur.
What I did not expect was the council does not understand the rules and regulations and then give me information that is completely incorrect.

I think formulating or updating drone and model aircraft bylaws probably falls low on most councils’ priorities. Judging by the number of posts in the threads on here that deal with permissions and restrictions not everyone in the flying community is fully up to speed on the subject. so for those who may be more concerned with reuse collection, road potholes or care for the elderly with dwindling budgets there aren’t the resources to sit down and carefully consider sensible policies to ensure safe flying.

Your informant at the council presumably felt she was being helpful and / or protecting the council - many of us have public liability insurance through FPVUK or BMFA but I imagine ta large majority of recent flyers do not. If someone is hit in the face by a Mini 2 being flown recklessly in a council administered park who gets sued? If the pilot isn’t able to pay then the target with the most cash will be the council. That’s why I believe their default position for flying from council land is “NO!”

Now, if only they could apply the law to uninsured cyclists on pavements …

5 Likes

Not forgetting council’s seem to be able to magic money out of thin air to create bicycle lanes bus lanes covid Lanes put free bikes and electric scooters all around where I live while we use of push bikes on the promenade in Bournemouth is banned in the summer you can’t make it up!
I wonder if the CAA created a fact sheet and sent it out to every Council or made it available when they changed the rules and guidance?
During my conversations with this particular Council employee she suggested I look to the CAA website I said I have and I’ve taken a test and passed it and I can fly a drone, I suggested someone from the council take a look at the CAA website so they can understand what the guidelines are?

1 Like

Well, that sums it up nicely. As I’ve said on another thread, if they can’t name the law they think you’re breaking it’s often because there isn’t one.

You can find the boundaries of all designated Local and National Nature Reserves on this online map:

https://magic.defra.gov.uk/MagicMap.aspx

Here’s a quick extract for the Bournemouth area, but you can play with it yourself.

The same map shows SSSIs, SACs, RSPB reserves etc. All or most of this could fairly easily be made available on Drone Scene (@PingSpike tagged), but you need to be careful not to make people think these are places you can’t legally fly a drone - in most cases you can, so long as you don’t disturb the wildlife.

2 Likes

That is brilliant thank you very much I did the Google Search I tried the government website the council website and no one had this information thank you very much indeed

1 Like

Excellent map!

2 Likes

Thread here has a link to the Scottish equivalent, should anyone need it:

2 Likes

Thanks a lot for that somebody else posted up a similar link and it’s a really good map

1 Like

Thanks, this is a really great resource.

Regarding whether you can fly around these, on https://register-drones.caa.co.uk/drone-code/where-you-can-fly the CAA says:

Flying may be restricted at some Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) where that flight may disturb animals or wildlife. Check on the web for byelaws or look out for local signs and then follow any restrictions that apply.

Do not fly where you’ll disturb or endanger animals and wildlife.

Here’s the Hengistbury Head local nature reserve page: Designated Sites View

With Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole, specifically, this seems to be the main page: Flying model aircraft and drones

They say:

The flying of any model aircraft or drone is not permitted on any nature reserve in the area.

Interestingly they say “on”, rather than “over”.

And once again they don’t cite any specific legislation or bye-law as a basis for the claimed restriction.

I have a little sympathy for local councils trying to understand the law. It’s a mess.

But only a little.

SSSIs still need a byelaw for the site, for you to be legally required to get permission from NE. DEFRA have a model byelaw for SSSIs which cover a minority of them and includes model aircraft flying.

Without that kind of byelaw in place for the site, speaking to NE is a courtesy not a requirement.

This page does cite that they have byelaws but they’re pretty permissive.

Flying
The byelaws relating to kites and powered and unpowered aircraft are:
only fly kites safely and in permitted areas (Hengistbury Head only)
do not land aircraft, hang gliders or paragliders in local nature reserves except in an emergency
do not launch hang gliders or paragliders in local nature reserves.

1 Like

Oh actually it does look like they have more general parks byelaws with a section on model aircraft. As with most of them out of step with current legislation and licencing though (defines a model aircraft as less than 7kg, CAA defines them as less than 25kg).