Flying over development/construction sites in the UK

[jdwood38]

Good morning all,

First time poster! I'm hoping to get my mind absolutely crystal clear on flying in a particular manner in the UK.

Short version of the situation: I am currently in dispute with a construction site over breaches of planning permission. Due to the nature of the site it is very difficult to see what they are doing from the highway so am using/intending to use my Mavic Mini 2 to get images and a log of what is being done.

So my understanding is that, given:

1) My drone is under 250g
2) I have a flyer and operator ID
3) I am flying when the site is closed
4) Based on 3) I am not flying anywhere near anyone, nor endangering property

then I am allowed to fly over the site and take pictures without recourse from the company?

Grateful for any advice that anyone may have. I wouldn't want to give the builders any recourse on anything when we are already in a very stressful situation!

Many thanks in advance.

 

[old man mavic]

@jdwood38 with the Mini2 you can fly it over the site go to 150ft and then angle the camera down to get the shots you need, make sure that your takeoff landing area is safe and not near the road or other people and that there are no TFR 's in operation where you intend to fly (stands for temporary flight restrictions) hope this helps

 

[Deleted member 103366]

My one concern would be 'privacy', would you be invading the 'privacy' of the site? If the situation is fraught it might be wise to ask a solicitor before hand, the builder might be 'touchy' about their privacy.

 

[manc54]

My one concern would be 'privacy', would you be invading the 'privacy' of the site? If the situation is fraught it might be wise to ask a solicitor before hand, the builder might be 'touchy' about their privacy.

My thoughts exactly

 

[Arnold LeVine]

Talk to your lawyer/solicitor first. In the states, you might fall into a "surveillance" situation, not necessarily privacy, but depending on what purpose you are using the video/photos for.
I have turned down a couple of jobs of people wanting me to get "evidence" of wrongdoing by their neighbors. I told them I would only do the flight if they filed a suit and got court permission to gather evidence.
Maybe I was smart, and maybe I was too careful. But I played it safe.

 

[Flying Shroppie]

There is a popular misconception in the UK that if you fly over another persons property you are invading thier privacy and acting unlawfully. This is not the case unless there is a specific injuction in place preventing such activity. There are very few such places. Principally they are military establishments, royal residences and some prisons.
HOWEVER! You may not fly over another person unless they are involved in your activity. If as the OP has said the construction site in question is closed for the day. the site operator has no grounds to prevent you over flying the site.They may try to obtain a court injunction to prevent your activities but they are most unlikely to succeed, plus any court appearance would only suggest to the press and other court followers, that they have something to hide. Would they wish to go down that route.
In UK law you do not have control over the airspace above your property.
Just think of the number of light aircraft carrying photographic equipment that fly over peoples property every day and you never hear a single word of complaint.
Stay away from other people and you will be fine, but make sure you don;t have to make an emergency landing as you would then be guilty of trespass.

 

[Deleted member 103366]

The over flight of the property may well be lawful, that was not my concern. But my concern was with taking photos looking into private property especially where the situation is already fraught. Protecting privacy when flying drones | UK Civil Aviation Authority

 

[Rafter]

Just do it. You're legally allowed to fly there. If you don't want to go directly over the site, the quality of the photos is such you could film without overflying it. Once you've got the photos, you've got them and if the contractors want to open a can of worms it's up to them. If they are not complying they won't want to draw attention to themselves. I have a similar problem with premises across the road from me. I fly in a field next door and can get all the shots I need.

 

[Flying Shroppie]

I dont wish to get into the semantics of your particular case but the UK CAA guidance is deliberately vague as it cannot cover every possible situation. There is a vast difference of "intent" if you are flying over a building site at 300ft or hovering outside someones window at 6ft. Physically the difference may only be 294ft but the "intent" may be entirely different. This is why the advice from the CAA is so vague.
At what point does your flight become acceptable/unacceptable, 10ft, 20ft, 50ft, 100ft, 300ft?
The law however vague is there to protect the liberty of all parties. Fly safely at all times but do not be brow beaten by people who may have something to hide and be prepared to show any interested party what you have recorded. By being open and honest you will always have the higher ground.

 

[maelstrom]

HOWEVER! You may not fly over another person unless they are involved in your activity.

That's not correct for drones weighing less than 250g which are allowed to fly over uninvolved persons (but not crowds). According to the CAA Drone and Model Aircraft code:

If you’re flying a drone or model aircraft that’s lighter than 250g or is C0 class, you can fly closer to people than 50m and you can fly over them.

There's information about the privacy aspects here:

Protecting privacy when flying drones | UK Civil Aviation Authority

Find out what you can and can't do with drone photos and videos. How to respect people's privacy when you are flying your drone in the UK.

register-drones.caa.co.uk

 

[cgmaxed]

From A UK site: "If your drone has a camera, you should consider the impact of the General Data Protection Regulation on the collection of footage using the device. The Information Commissioner’s Office guidance (Drones) suggests that compliance with the data protection law would include making it obvious that you are responsible for the drone and that the drone is capable of filming. The guidance also highlights the importance of ensuring that you only record in appropriate locations using the drone – for example, using the drone to film your neighbor's back garden is obviously likely to infringe their privacy; doing so repeatedly could amount to the offence of harassment."

Taking pics and video of an empty construction site, ie no people, is probably safe and doesn't break any rules, It's what you do with those pictures and video that privacy issues may come into play. I don't knnow what kind of "expectations of privacy" a construction site owner or manager may have.

 

[Lastrexking]

Privacy only applies to people and sensitive (eg, MOD, Police, Government sites) as part of UK data protection laws. If there’s nobody working on the site when you fly over then you’ve nothing to worry about as a private citizen. If you were a competitor, then that’d be different.