Consultation outcome

Drone legislation: use, restrictions and enforcement

This was published under the 2016 to 2019 May Conservative government
This consultation has concluded

Detail of outcome

The government has published its response to the Taking flight: the future of drones in the UK consultation.

It outlines the government’s decisions, including to:

  • legislate to give the police greater powers to tackle drone misuse, including the power to issue on the spot fines
  • better protect our airports by extending the area around airports and runways in which drones are banned from being flown

The outcome was released on 7 January 2019.

Detail of feedback received

The consultation had 5,061 responses.


Original consultation

Summary

Policy proposals for safer use of drones plus powers to police for enforcement.

This consultation ran from
to

Consultation description

Consultation proposing policies for drone use and enforcement. The proposed policies include:

  • the minimum age requirement for operators for small unmanned aircraft
  • whether the 1km flight restriction around protected aerodromes is sufficient
  • a proposal to mandate and regulate a Flight Information and Notification System (FINS) or just regulate the FINS
  • the powers required by enforcement bodies in order to properly police drone use and penalise incorrect use, including the possible use of fixed penalty notices
  • counter drone technology system proposals

The proposals build on the legislation made by the Benefits of drones to the UK economy and The Air Navigation (Amendment) Order 2018.

An impact assessment of the Drones and Other Unmanned Aircraft Bill is available.

Documents

Taking flight the future of drones in the UK

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Drones and Other Unmanned Aircraft Bill impact assessment

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If you use assistive technology (such as a screen reader) and need a version of this document in a more accessible format, please email webmasterdft@dft.gov.uk. Please tell us what format you need. It will help us if you say what assistive technology you use.

Updates to this page

Published 26 July 2018
Last updated 7 January 2019 + show all updates
  1. Consultation outcome released.

  2. Consultation response announced for early 2019.

  3. First published.

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