Drones: no fly zone increased; awareness campaign launched

New Drones bill expected in in March; Police be given new stop and search powers for those suspected of 'malicious' drone use

Following on from new laws last year restricting the use of drones and bringing forward a new drone-users register, the government has  announced new legislation to extend the ‘no-fly’ zone around airports, banning drones from flying within 5km of runways.

Work to progress a new Drones Bill is also underway which aims to give police powers to stop and search people suspected of using drones maliciously above 400ft or within 5km of an airport.  It will also give additional new powers to the police to clamp down on those misusing drones and other small unmanned aircraft — including the power to access electronic data stored on a drone with a warrant.

The government and the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) have also announced a new partnership with the retailer Jessops, as part of a national campaign to increase public awareness of the rules around flying drones.

Working with the CAA, the government campaign aims to to help educate the public about responsible drone use, including issuing a digital toolkit to airports to help them raise awareness of the new rules.

The new exclusion zone will be increased by several kilometres, including banning drone flight within 5km of runway ends. The enlarged zone will better protect the UK’s airports from those misusing drones, and will come into force on 13 March 2019.

The Home Office is also reviewing the UK’s approach to countering the malicious use of drones, and will consider how best to protect the full range of the UK’s critical national infrastructure — including testing and evaluating technology to counter drones.