Flying drones in Edinburgh

Edinburgh City Council have updated their drone policy in line with the new 31st Dec drone regulations.

“In line with CAA guidance, The City of Edinburgh Council (CEC) should be contacted as a landowner with regard to access to Council land or property from which to launch or land a drone.”
So looks like flying even a Mini 2 is out unless you want to go through the hoops of making an application ‘well in advance’ or find non-council land to take off from :slightly_frowning_face:

Probably like most of us, I check the weather a day or two before a planned flight, then make the decision to fly or not. Making an application for a flight well in advance just isn’t feasible.

How does that work with the right to roam laws in Scotland? Its not something I’ve delved too deeply into to be honest but something I think I’m going to have to look into

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It’s not really got anything to do with the right to roam law. The drone code says that you must follow any flying restrictions e.g. byelaws. "Byelaws - Byelaws may restrict when and where you can fly from.
Look out for local signs for information and contact details where you can find out more. Byelaws are unlikely to be shown on apps or drone websites."

Whether or not Edinburgh City Council has got their new drone policy in their byelaws yet or not, I don’t know.

If it’s a byelaw, it doesn’t feature in Register of byelaws – The City of Edinburgh Council, but this does not look like an exhaustive list anyway.

Until this posting I had felt fairly comfortable with flying from Edinburgh Council land. There a couple of reasons:

  1. I shared with the Council’s Parks department some drone footage that I filmed for Friends of the Braid Hills (see Redirecting...). There were no words of censure, and they supplied some of the information in the film to me
  2. I have flown around many of Edinburgh’s public parks (for example, Arthur’s Seat, Saughton Park, Craiglockhart Hill and Spylaw) and occasionally seen park workers there. Usually there was no interaction, but on several occasions they have shown a polite interest and nothing more

With this experience, I am unlikely to seek permission in advance, and I will wonder if this initiative is related to another experience. Edinburgh Council approached some of its citizens and asked them to complete an anonymous questionnaire on the use of Edinburgh’s land for filming. It was clear they were working out if and how much they could charge for filming. Some sample questions (and my answers), below:

Scale and impact
3 To what extent do you agree that decisions on events and filming should be based on the impact they will have on people and places?
Agree

4 Please use the space below for any comments or suggestions on the above.
A rather strange question - if there was no impact on the people and places, why would there even be a issue? I would disagree with the notion that if someone objected to filming then the permission would not be granted.


Community wealth building
8 To what extent do you agree that ‘The use of council-owned or public good sites for commercial events should be framed within a Community wealth building approach.’?
Disagree
9 Please use the space below for any comments or suggestions on the above.
If communities wish to increase wealth they can use taxes, local fundraising or voluntary contributions. To penalise users to benefit non-users seems ridiculous.
Open and transparent information

10 At what stage would you like to have information on events and filming?
When the event or filming is approved

11 Please use the space below for any comments or suggestions on the above.
People film all the time - their iPhones, drones, doorbell security systems…! This “unapproved” filming is far more prevalent than anything requiring a formal application.

13 Please use the space below for any comments or suggestions on the above.
It is not clear to me what size of event the authors of this questionnaire are considering.
_

For me the bottom line is in the .pdf Drone Filming in Edinburgh:
“If person/persons are found to be using an unauthorised drone or model aircraft on or from CEC
land without permission they will be requested to stop immediately. If the user refuses to stop,
Police Scotland will be called to attend to cease activity and remove the user from CEC land.”

I can live with that, since I would usually stop if someone asks nicely. The strange thing is in the wording of the first sentence. There really is no such thing as “an unauthorised drone” - I have a UK-registered drone - so in any case I will not be flying, “an unauthorised drone … without permission”.

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Yeah I’d be happy to stop too, but if you are not flying "recklessly or negligently cause or permit an aircraft to endanger any person or property.” as CEC quoted, then what are the police going to do?
If they are going to remove you from CEC land where are they going to put you? CEC land is a big area :joy:
My argument would be I’m not ‘Filming in Edinburgh’ I’m taking photographs :wink: :grin:

If the allegation is that you are breaching a bye-law, the police can be called, but may be reluctant to enforce such a law. If the allegation is that you are on CEC land without permission, the police have no power to act: trespass is a civil matter. Whether CEC could eject somebody from public land like a park, with no bye-law in place, where they’re just engaged in ordinary recreational activity, is legally dubious, to put it mildly.

My view on this is really simple: there’s NOTHING special about flying a drone if you are obeying the aviation regulations, just the same as if you are taking photos on your mobile, flying a kite, or walking your dog. If you don’t go looking on websites to find out about permission for any of these, why do so to fly a drone?

Good point :+1:

This seems to be a new council policy rather than a byelaw (at the moment), but to have to apply for permission to use drones on all “council managed land including parks, roads and public open spaces” is ridiculous.

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I think it’s a way to tag people who may be using a drone in the area. You apply, they say “No” but then they make note of your details for the next time an “unauthorized” flight is detected.

Does the DJI Go 4 app not report your activity via the UUID transmission feature, which I think is turned on by default?

I’m a bit late to the conversation, but after reading the article “Culture Edinburgh: Drones” and downloading the PDF file I understand that you can fly a drone in Edinburgh without any prior permission. At least those below 250 g.

Under the new regulations, there are some UAS that fall within the Open Category which can be operated from public land or public rights of way without requiring permission. However, please note the Park Enforcement & Bylaws below.

These are:

Item 4 of those rules advises that “The following acts are prohibited unless the Council’s written
permission has been obtained first:
…4.13 Engaging in any commercial activity whatsoever (including, without limitation, dog walking services, photography, filming and fitness training services)”
Further, item 8 advises that “The following acts are prohibited:
8.2 Operating any motorised or mechanically propelled toy or model vehicle, aircraft or boat so as to disturb wildlife, endanger or give annoyance to other people or if asked by a Council Official not to
do so".

Am I missing something?

So hi I’m going to Edinburgh next week I own a 249g drone a mini so I’m really confused do I still need a permit for flying? Thanks I would be glad if you could answer

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As far as I am aware there is nothing to prevent you flying in Edinburgh, as long as you are flying in accordance with CAA rules, be sensible and don’t annoy people or wildlife (especially birds at this time of year). @jaybee has flown round Edinburgh quite a lot, and got some cracking shots

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EDC Edinburgh District Council when it comes to getting drone permission don’t help themselfs ie can take up to 6 weeks to get permission !!!. Weather can change in 6 mins never mind 6 weeks, But if the drone is a sub250g and you fly in a safe manner you will be fine.

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Thank you, I have been very confused when searching for the rules about it and it had varying answers.

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@jaybee, John I have a flight inside the Assembly Rooms in early Feb 24, I was granted permission by the Ops Mgr on the day, as this is an FPV fly through i wanted to start out in George St by the monument, fly down and into the foyer, reading everything that’s been written is this likely to be difficult due to CEC ‘policy’ or are there byelaws now preventing flying from their land? It would be. Sub 250g drone.
Thanks

Your flying in private property mate , its sub 250g you wont have a problem.EDC abide by CAA rules ref sub250g

There are no Edinburgh City Council byelaws on drone flying, as far as I’m aware it’s only policy.

I’m flying outside down George St at first though and will TOLP on the street opposite the assembly rooms.

Nothing on their website says sub 250 are ‘immune’ that I could fine anyway.

Thanks for replying.

Edinburgh Council are claiming that you need permission for TOAL as they own the land, but if you are on a public pavement, do they technically ‘own it’?

*City of Edinburgh Council Land Owner Stance – Drone Usage *
In general terms, and in line with CAA advice, The City of Edinburgh Council (CEC) should be
*contacted as a landowner with regard to access to Council land or property from which to launch or *
*land a drone. The operator is responsible for the proper use of the airspace itself, and it is the *
*responsibility of the operator to ensure compliance with the CAA regulations, the law, and terms of *
insurance.

However they also state - Under the new regulations, there are some UAS that fall within the Open Category which can be operated from public land or public rights of way without requiring permission.

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