The use of drones by local councils

Across the UK, local government have started using Drones following their receipt of a commercial Drone licence from the Civil Aviation Authority.

According to research, North Yorkshire is the latest to use Drone technology for areas such as checking whether people have kept the size of their new extension within the agreed limits.

But this has not come without concern from civil liberties campaigners. Their issue is that it could give a green light for state surveillance.

According to reports, one resident used an online forum to write: ‘'wow, the councils are going to be flying around filming you all as you are going about your day, peering in your windows and back yards '

So now, the campaigning group Big Brother Watch has instigated the need for guidelines to make sure councils do not have the authority to zoom in on private property without a justified reason.

So what are councils using Drones for?

There appears to be a range of activities that local government are using Drone technology, including fly tipping.

Another justification by councils to achieve a ‘work smarter’ attitude is that they can now view poor roofing work by a rogue trader. It costs the UK £10 million a year according to the Federation of Master Builders.  Drones can also fly over land looking for livestock carcasses or even inspect sites to make sure planning controls aren’t breached.

Being able to use Drones comes with a number of benefits. Being able to fly over hard to reach installations or large areas of land, is by far a cheaper option than arranging a small aircraft to carry out the same task.

But in this sector alone, tough guidelines need to accompany its operation in a bid to trust privacy is maintained as a priority.

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