Cassiobury Park - Added to Parks and Recreation in East of England

Where to fly your drone in the UK
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I have just added this to the map of places to fly your drone at Drone Scene:

Cassiobury Park is the principal public park in Watford, Hertfordshire.

It was created in 1909 from the purchase by Watford Borough Council of part of the estate of the Earls of Essex around Cassiobury House which was subsequently demolished in 1927.

It comprises over 190 acres (77 ha) and extends from the A412 Rickmansworth Road in the east to the Grand Union Canal in the west, and lies to the south of the Watford suburb of Cassiobury, which was also created from the estate.

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The originator declared that this location was not inside a Flight Restriction Zone at the time of being flown on 11/09/2021. It remains the responsibility of any pilot to check for any changes before flying at the same location. Landowner permission may be required before taking off.

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Well done, Barrie :+1: Weather permitting, I’m shooting the same tomorrow in Swindon :wink:

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Watford Borough Council does not allow drones to be flown in any of their parks. At least that is what they are saying on the website. On the byelaws they are not saying anything about electrical powered model aircrafts or drones.

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Very vague they are too, with the CAA link taking you to the Registering a Drone page.

Drones:** you cannot fly drones in a park and may face a fine of ÂŁ500. You can find more information on the Civil Aviation Authority website.

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Watford bylaws state times for model aircraft flying in casiobury park.

  1. A person shall not in any part of the pleasure grounds known as Cassiobury Park, Garston Park, Oxhey Park and the Woodside Playing Fields set apart by the Council for the flying of power-driven model aircraft:a) fly any such model aircraft unless it is attached to a control line and is kept under effective control;b) fly any such model aircraft;(i) at times when the part so set apart has been allocated by the council for the exclusive use of persons playing a match or game;(ii) on days and during hours other than those specified in the following table in respect of that pleasure ground.
    T able

Name of pleasure ground CASSIOBURY PARK

Days

Monday to Saturday 1st May to 31st July

Monday to Saturday 1st August to 30th April

Sundays
1st May – 30th September 1st October – 30th April

Monday to Saturday Sundays
1st May to 30th September 1st October to 30th April

Hours

9am – 9pm

9am – 1pm

9am – 7pm 9am – 1pm

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I had an email discussion with Watford council. No drones in any Watford park of any size. I have tried to find out about Wippendell woods which is an SSSI owned by watford. Nobody could give me an answer.

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Hi @David901, it looks as though you’re quite new here :wave:t2:

Why not nip over to the Introductions page, and say hello properly and tell us a bit about yourself. :+1:t2:

Thankfully that only applies to taking off from their land.

You can still, very legally, fly over their land as there are no airspace restrictions at Cassiobury Park.

Enjoy your flights :smiley:

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Thanks. Tried an intro but wouldn’t let me send a message. Where can you take off around the park? From the canal?

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@David901 I’m not familiar with the local area, are there many council officials in the park that may ask you not to take off?

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Only been hassled by one once doing PT. Police pay regular visits in evenings due to drug use! It’s also a heavily used park and I have only ever once seen a drone flying. I guess I could take off from the canal (being water ways not council) but limited VLOS into park.

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I’ve managed to catch up with the conversations on this and the summary from Drone Scene. Byelaw 24 seems to contradict itself…

  1. A person shall not fly any power-driven model aircraft in the pleasure
    ground; provided that this byelaw shall not apply to any of the pleasure
    grounds known as Cassiobury Park, Garston Park, Oxhey Park and the
    Woodside Playing Fields.

This seems to state that you can’t fly in the please ground but that it doesn’t apply to the pleasure grounds listed.

Seems to me Watford Council doesn’t understand its own Byelaws. Further a drone is not a “power driven model aircraft”.

Any thoughts on this?

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Only the same thought I had a few days ago:

I’m also still unsure of the odds of a council employee being in the park at the same time you’re flying, but I suspect those odds are low :slight_smile:

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I’ve just added a new Parking marker to this location @MA2flyer :slightly_smiling_face:

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Indeed.

Here’s the council responding which to me says that they haven’t changed the definition and though they might want it to include drones it doesn’t.
….
The Council’s byelaws were made in 1971. As explained, these byelaws include provisions that prohibit the use of model aircraft within the parks. As you point out, at the time, model aircraft were defined in the byelaws as aircraft powered by combustion of petrol vapour. However, since that time, technology has developed significantly. Although drones are not specifically mentioned in the 1971 byelaws, the Council considers them to fall within the spirit and intention of the restrictions on model aircraft. Drones present similar issues to model aircraft in terms of noise, potential for disturbance to wildlife and other park users, and risks to public safety.

For these reasons, the Council interprets the byelaws as prohibiting the flying of drones within Watford’s park and woodland areas. We therefore ask that drones are not flown in Whippendell Wood. In addition, because Whippendell Wood is a Site of Special Scientific Interest, Natural England have to permit activities outside of the usual recreational use and they would require landowner permission was given which would not be forthcoming.