A presentation on the Council’s involvement with Project Skyway, a “drone superhighway” linking Reading to Oxford and Coventry.

The Committee received a presentation from the Assistant Director of Planning, Transport and Public Protection on the Council’s involvement as a stakeholder with Project Skyway, a collaborative partnership project funded by a £15 million bid to Innovate UK and led by Reading based company Altitude Angel to create the UK’s first “drone superhighway”. A copy of the presentation slides had been circulated with the agenda.

The Assistant Director of Planning, Transport and Public Protection explained that participation in the project had allowed the Council to be involved with the introduction of a new piece of technology from the start and had afforded the opportunity to understand and influence how that new technology and associated infrastructure might impact the town, residents and the Council itself. The Council’s involvement also helped to give it and the public a voice in shaping how the industry worked and interacted with local government and with the public. At the same time the Council was also able to provide support as a partner to a Reading based local business thereby supporting economic growth in the town.

The presentation outlined the project's vision to enable drones to safely share the skies with all other aviation, even when out of sight of the pilot, thereby unlocking the societal and commercial benefits of drones. The Committee heard that the project had been designed to expand what drones could do by allowing them to fly long distances without the pilot maintaining visual line of sight. Project Skyway was a “drone superhighway” and utilised masts on the ground equipped with sensors. Masts were placed along the route to track drones and to monitor airspace to allow the drones to fly safely alongside other air traffic. It was noted that the erection of masts would potentially have implications in terms of planning but that, where possible, mast infrastructure would utilise existing masts and structures.

The Assistant Director of Planning, Transport and Public Protection explained that the Council had worked together with Connected Places Catapult to support public engagement and had helped to facilitate access to residents. A public engagement exercise had connected a broad range of stakeholders to identify potential users and their requirements and to assess public perspectives. Approximately 20 Reading residents had participated in focus group sessions that looked at positive use cases and the societal, environmental and economic growth benefits of drones. The focus groups also looked at the potential negatives such as the impact on wildlife, noise and visual amenity, sustainability and energy use, local jobs, infrastructure (i.e the erection of more masts), safety and privacy.

The focus group sessions had also asked participants to identify who they thought would be responsible for addressing issues arising from the introduction of drone technology. Participants said that local authorities would need to play an enforcement type role in regulating the use of drones in areas such as preventing environmental harm (e.g. addressing noise and visual pollution), enforcement of unauthorised drone usage and privacy. The focus groups recognised that the regulation of the industry would require the involvement of government agencies, as well as the industry itself, and would require further development and thought in terms of establishing how regulations would be put into place and which agencies would be responsible for them.

The focus group sessions looked how best to engage with public and covered a range of topics that included: current drone regulations; the specific usage and purposes of the Skyway drone highway (including its route, volume of traffic and hours of operation); provided a balanced view of drone use cases (that included exploring the public sector and commercial usage of drones); looked at the issue of transparency and accountability, and considered the importance of sharing environmental research relating to drone use (for example investigating the impact drone usage could have on wildlife). The sessions recommended that that the drone industry should build trust by collaborating with the public and with local authorities.

The Assistant Director of Planning, Transport and Public Protection explained that the project had been granted a six-month extension to enable further testing and collaboration with the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA). During that period live testing had continued to gather the data needed in order to demonstrate safety and to progress the project through the CAA’s certification and award processes. Subject to the outcome of CAA’s safety and commercial viability approval processes, it was anticipated that a trial period of flights would commence in the spring of 2025 with commercial operations to follow in the winter of 2025.

The Committee discussed the content of the presentation and asked several questions. Some of the points discussed included:

·       That drone technology had many benefits to the public sector - for example drones were already being used by the Police to tackle crime and anti-social behaviour and by the Council to survey buildings and areas affected by flooding;

·       That it was important not to conflate the commercial ambitions of Project Skyway with the wider benefits of drones.

·       That there were concerns about the noise and general disturbance caused by drones flying overhead.

·       That it was not clear how noise and pollution would be affected as the scale of drone operations increased.

·       That there were legitimate concerns relating to the safety of objects being transported overhead.

·       That there were concerns regarding the superhighway’s proximity to a number of locally sensitive sites.

·       That there were legitimate concerns regarding drones intruding on people’s privacy.

·       That there were concerns relating to the impact of drones on pets, livestock and wildlife.

·       That, whilst it was recognised that residents’ concerns had been identified and discussed during the public engagement exercises, had those concerns been addressed to the satisfaction of the people who had raised them?

In response to some of the points raised by the Committee the Assistant Director of Planning, Transport and Public Protection advised that, for safety reasons, the route proposed by Project Skyway avoided built-up urban areas, and so the impact in terms of general safety and noise nuisance at this stage of the project was anticipated to be minimal. He noted however that further research was required to establish the impact on wildlife and that this research would need to continue whilst the technology was being developed. In relation to privacy concerns, the Assistant Director noted that, for Project Skyway, the public needed to be educated in terms of being aware that the drones did not carry cameras on them and that the cameras and sensors located on masts pointed at the horizon and not down or into people’s property. The Assistant Director noted that if the project launched commercially further public communication and engagement would be needed to ensure that the wider public were kept informed. The Assistant Director also noted that the Council had been involved in a separate piece of research by the University of Reading regarding the impacts of drones on people as well as the involvement of local authorities in regulating drone usage.

Resolved – That presentation on Project Skyway be noted.