Elan Valley in mid Wales UK - drones not allowed

James Dunbar · Jun 15, 2023

Hi, I've seen some great drone footage of Elan Valley and the amazing Dams over the years. As I now leave nearby, I was planning to do some filming and went on a recce. Ended up at their visitor centre only to see the dreaded "No Drones" sign. Went online and found their policy. I am gutted and have emailed for more information. You have to ask for permission to fly from their press office, but I doubt they'll grant permission to an amateur like me with my sub 250g drone (Mini 3 Pro). Has anyone else had any experiences / dealings with them?

Link to Elan Valley No Drone policy

mavic3usa · Jun 15, 2023

Yeah, sounds like they have no intentions to permit anyone but with so many YT videos on the area, it's apparent no one intends to comply with:

Here at Elan, we want everybody to enjoy the wonderful scenery, but to ensure the privacy and safety of all users, and the protection of our operational assets, drones are not permitted to fly over any of our locations at any time without Welsh Water’s consent.

old man mavic · Jun 15, 2023

all they can legally do is prevent you from TOAL on their property ,but as long as you have checked if there are any RAF low flying exercises going on when you intend to fly,and observe the drone code then to be honest there is not really much they can do to stop you, it is correct that the Mach loop as it is called has been designated a no drone area ,in a similar way to the Sennybridge training area by the MOD i have had issues with Welsh Water, when i have been told i cant fly over any of their reservoir's ,as it is written into there policy,but i have on many occasions flown over and around many of the reservoirs in the Brecon beacons ,without any bother

James Dunbar · Jun 15, 2023

old man mavic said:
all they can legally do is prevent you from TOAL on their property ,but as long as you have checked if there are any RAF low flying exercises going on when you intend to fly,and observe the drone code then to be honest there is not really much they can do to stop you, it is correct that the Mach loop as it is called has been designated a no drone area ,in a similar way to the Sennybridge training area by the MOD i have had issues with Welsh Water, when i have been told i cant fly over any of their reservoir's ,as it is written into there policy,but i have on many occasions flown over and around many of the reservoirs in the Brecon beacons ,without any bother

That's interesting - though I wouldn't be confident to take off outside the estate and flying over the dams! it's a huge area. Also, the RAF timetable is useless - they seem to fly outside the 'timetabled' schedule quite often.

Yorkshire_Pud · Jun 15, 2023

Just as a matter of interest, is there any UK "law", as in rules, governing drone flights over what will become potable water?

James Dunbar · Jun 16, 2023

Yorkshire_Pud said:
Just as a matter of interest, is there any UK "law", as in rules, governing drone flights over what will become potable water?

I don't know but I see your point Yorkshire_Pud. However the Estate covers a vast area, mostly deserted; the dams and lakes are only a small part of it.

Greatsign1 · Jun 16, 2023

This is the problem with places like NYC that just have a blanket ban on drones. If you give people no options to fly legally, some will just fly anyway and take a catch me if you can attitude.

Brojon · Jun 17, 2023

mavic3usa said:
Yeah, sounds like they have no intentions to permit anyone but with so many YT videos on the area, it's apparent no one intends to comply with:

Here at Elan, we want everybody to enjoy the wonderful scenery, but to ensure the privacy and safety of all users, and the protection of our operational assets, drones are not permitted to fly over any of our locations at any time without Welsh Water’s consent.

I'm really not sure where all the recent hysteria over "privacy" is coming from.
I absolutely get the online privacy but here in the States we have what's called a "reasonable expectation of privacy". IOW if you are in public you are not private by definition. Seems stupid to think otherwise.
So here you are at a public place of interest and there are laws about people in the photograph. In the EU under most circumstances you are required to get permission - which, BTW isn't defined as written setting up a "I said, they said" defense.
I was in a remote village in the Black Forest and got permission from the B&B we stayed at to fly. At that time I had a Spark for portability. I just wanted to fly towards the mountain at the back of the property.
Not 15 minutes later his neighbor came over and threatened to call the police over "privacy" because my images would contain his farm. Mind you I wasn't flying over his property at all. The man was getting positively hysterical so my host asked me to comply.
These are the people that seem to have it out for drones and photography in general.