I have a question about the right to fly my drone on Holkham Beach in Norfolk.
I see that parts of the beach are Crown Estate but looks like the whole beach is owned by the Holkham Estate who prohibit drone use without permissions which I would be unlikely to get.
The way I read it is that even though it is Crown Estate because the Holkham Estate own it you can’t fly there. I think Wells-next-the-sea is also mostly owned by them as well.
Is there anyone that can confirm my thoughts on this.
Many Thanks.
Wells no issues, both around the harbour and beach areas.
Holkham is different matter, the landowners have a policy that states no drones are allowed to take off from their land (which is their right), although they do also say not allowed over (chuckles), however I chose my time and location and encountered no issues.
Many thanks for that.
Yeah I’ve looked at their Drone Policy, bit like the National Trust.
Like you say it’s picking the right time and where you TOAL and they can’t stop you flying over lol.
The problem (especially with Holkham) is getting to the beach (easily) without going on ‘their’ land, but once on it its a big old place with lots of hiding
As for the naturists, makes me laugh how they put them in the middle of the beach
To reiterate, any landowner or manager of an estate can legitimately prevent your taking off and landing (TOAL) from their property, with or without putting up notices, and it is your responsibility to find out whether or not TOAL is permitted from any location (it is permitted from Crown Estate land, which in this case is, I think, the beach) Once you have reached the Crown Estate, you can TOAL wherever you like from that, including of course overflying the property you are banned from TOALing from. But in this case, there is a naturist beach area to consider as well, and clearly flying near that would be being a dick even if it is not, in itself, illegal. It would become illegal if a naturist or any member of the public objected to you flying there on privacy grounds, but that’s a different thing altogether. Best to leave the naked people alone…
Fly if you can do so without TOAL from the Holkham Estate, obey the Drone Code, maintain VLOS in the same way that we all always do all the time (!), stay high enough/far enough away for the naturists not to notice you, don’t be a dick, have fun, enjoy! It’s a matter of assessing the situation live on the day, with regard to the number of people around and what they are doing.
Not if the land the Crown Estate own is being leased by a 3rd party..
I’m not saying it is in this case but the Crown Estate are very clear on the following… I’ve recently experienced it so i know what I’m talking about..
" On occasions, third parties such as Government agencies or local authorities may restrict the flying, take off or landing of UAD’s on or over Crown Estate land. We therefore recommend checking with the appropriate authority to ensure that no such restrictions are in place. "
Thanks for your reply uav_hampshire
I’ve already reached out to the Crown Estate Customer Services for clarification re Holkham.
Will update if I get a reply.
yeah I saw that