{"id":165633,"date":"2026-09-18T08:30:40","date_gmt":"2026-09-18T07:30:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/?p=165633"},"modified":"2026-09-17T12:03:09","modified_gmt":"2026-09-17T11:03:09","slug":"why-planners-need-to-be-proactive-about-drones","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/digital-construction-news\/construction-technology-news\/why-planners-need-to-be-proactive-about-drones\/165633\/","title":{"rendered":"Why planners need to be proactive about drones"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2>With the use of drones increasing across the built environment, Dr Anna Jackman and Dr Paul Cureton discuss new guidance published by the Royal Town Planning Institute that urges planners to proactively consider how they can shape a successful and socially beneficial future for the technology<\/h2>\n<p>Abuzz with aerial drones, UK skies are changing. In <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/digital-construction-news\/rtpi-highlights-strengths-weaknesses-drones-built-environment\/164291\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">new practice advice notes published by the Royal Town Planning Institute (RTPI)<\/a>, we urge that both the growing use of &#8211; and ambitions to scale &#8211; drones requires prompt and proactive consideration from planners to ensure that the technologies and infrastructures underpinning them be integrated in careful and considered ways.<\/p>\n<h3>Drone applications in planning<\/h3>\n<p>From infrastructure inspection and asset surveying to development management, enforcement and building control, the first practice advice note, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rtpi.org.uk\/new-from-the-rtpi\/planning-and-drones-1\/#applications\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Planning and Drones<\/a><br \/>\n1: Using Drones to Deliver Planning Services, outlines the diversity of applications for which drones are being adopted and engaged in planning roles and contexts.<\/p>\n<p>As <a href=\"https:\/\/arpas.uk\/drone-use-by-local-government-in-england-from-ambition-to-action\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">wider research into local authority drone use in England highlights<\/a>, drones have proved valuable tools in the assessment and monitoring of assets and infrastructure<br \/>\nincluding roads, bridges, culverts, buildings and lighting &#8211; for and beyond building control.<\/p>\n<p>So too are drones \u2013 and the unique perspective of sites they provide &#8211; proving useful in the assessment of planning applications and enforcement breaches, which can otherwise be time-consuming, costly, inaccessible and\/or unsafe.<\/p>\n<p>Alongside reducing safety risks accompanying workers at height, drones are routinely celebrated as devices at once supporting the gathering of a <a href=\"https:\/\/media.socitm.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/16085452\/Inform-report-drones-october-2019-1.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">diversity of data<\/a> and enabling comparatively rapid <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ukri.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/IUK-19072024-IUK-ESRC_Future-Flight_Challenge-Fund-Case-studies.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">real-time and post operation analysis<\/a>.<\/p>\n<h3>Planning for scaled drone use<\/h3>\n<p>Our second advice note, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rtpi.org.uk\/new-from-the-rtpi\/planning-and-drones-2\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Planning and Drones 2: Planning for Scaled Drone Use and Infrastructure<\/a>, turns instead to external commercial and civil applications.<\/p>\n<p>While skies animated by delivery drone flights and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rtpi.org.uk\/new-from-the-rtpi\/project-skyway-case-study\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">aerial corridors<\/a> may once have sounded futuristic or sci-fi, from e-retail giant <a href=\"https:\/\/theconversation.com\/amazon-is-making-drone-deliveries-in-the-uk-heres-why-nimbyism-could-hamper-a-wider-rollout-282635\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Amazon\u2019s Prime Air delivery drone trials<\/a><br \/>\nin Darlington, Couty Durham, to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.irishtimes.com\/business\/2026\/06\/16\/mannas-plans-for-dundrum-drone-delivery-hub-blocked\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Manna\u2019s trials<\/a> across the Republic of Ireland, drones \u2013 and the launch and landing pads, masts and\/or hubs supporting their functioning \u2013 are currently <a href=\"https:\/\/www.irishtimes.com\/business\/2026\/06\/18\/mannas-irish-growth-plans-grounded-for-now-by-local-opposition-to-drone-deliveries\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">confronting planners<\/a> with live and timely questions.<\/p>\n<p>As drones and their supporting infrastructures animate skies and the built environment alike, there remain a range of challenges requiring further attention and proactive consideration.<\/p>\n<p>While <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gov.uk\/government\/news\/over-20-million-to-help-drones-and-flying-taxis-take-to-uk-skies\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">policy<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.caa.co.uk\/data-and-publications\/publications\/documents\/content\/cap3182\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">regulatory initiatives<\/a> to scale drone use in the UK continue apace, research underscores the importance of understanding and learning from <a href=\"https:\/\/futureflightsocial.ac.uk\/research\/title-22\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">public perception<\/a> of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ukri.org\/publications\/future-flight-vision-and-roadmap\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">future flight<\/a> technologies including drones.<\/p>\n<p>Therein, members of the public express concerns about scaled drone use ushering <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ukri.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/IUK-19072024-YouGov-%E2%80%93-University-of-Birmingham-Future-Flight-Survey-2024-v2.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">invasions of privacy<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ukri.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/UKRI-120722-FutureFlightChallengeMiniPublicDialogueReport.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">risking potential intrusion<\/a> into private and domestic lives.<\/p>\n<p>Following that the drone\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/salford-repository.worktribe.com\/output\/1349345\/drone-noise-a-new-public-health-challenge\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">unconventional noise signature<\/a> can be understood as <a href=\"https:\/\/theconversation.com\/drones-to-deliver-incessant-buzzing-noise-and-packages-116257\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">particularly annoying to human ears<\/a> \u2013 public concerns also surround the risk of drones adding to or <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ukri.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/UKRI-120722-FutureFlightChallengeMiniPublicDialogueReport.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">extending visual and aural disruption at ground level<\/a> into the air above us, while the Civil Aviation Authority (the UK\u2019s aerospace regulator) acknowledges that drones <a href=\"https:\/\/www.caa.co.uk\/publication\/download\/22803\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">present new challenges<\/a> for noise legislation.<\/p>\n<p>Our practice advice notes thus stress the critical importance of careful <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ukri.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/IUK-19072024-Future-Flight-Challenge-Community-Integration-Local-Planning-Guidance-Paper-Issue-1-July-2024.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">public consultation<\/a>, engagement and collaboration in order to hear and address concerns meaningfully.<\/p>\n<p>As the RTPI\u2019s Daniel Slade succinctly stated: \u201cIf communities feel decisions are happening to them, rather than being made with them, the backlash could result in widely beneficial development not going ahead at all.\u201d<\/p>\n<h3>Environmental impacts<\/h3>\n<p>The impacts of drones are also not solely limited to humans. While drones are being employed for <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gov.uk\/government\/news\/enhanced-package-of-cutting-edgetechnology-to-combat-waste-crime\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">wide-ranging environmentally beneficial applications<\/a>, they also<br \/>\nraise challenges in this area too.<\/p>\n<p>Just as members of the public raise questions of if and how such technologies will <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ukri.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/UKRI-120722-FutureFlightChallengeMiniPublicDialogueReport.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">function harmoniously with wildlife and bird habitats<\/a>, research highlights the potential for drones to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.landscapealliance.org\/knowledge\/publication\/8851\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">disrupt wildlife and animals<\/a> in ways requiring <a href=\"https:\/\/journals.plos.org\/plosone\/article\/file?id=10.1371\/journal.pone.0178448&amp;type=printable\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">further, systematic, evaluation<\/a>.<\/p>\n<h3>Capacity challenges<\/h3>\n<p>Challenges also remain with regard to planning resource and capacity, in a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rtpi.org.uk\/policy-and-research\/state-of-the-profession-2025\/state-of-the-profession-2025-england\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">sector under strain<\/a>. As a Future Flight Challenge planning guidance paper outlined, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ukri.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/IUK-19072024-Future-Flight-Challenge-Community-Integration-Local-Planning-Guidance-Paper-Issue-1-July-2024.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">further guidance is urgently needed<\/a> to support the effective, considered and consistent implementation of<br \/>\ndrone projects, as and where they are judged as appropriate.<\/p>\n<p>As drones and the ground-based infrastructures supporting their scaled use increasingly animate boundaries between air and land, planners remain uniquely placed to at once imagine and forge built environment futures mobilising drones as and where beneficial.<\/p>\n<p>To this end, both the practice advice notes, and the provocative visualisations of potential drone futures developed by architectural firm <a href=\"https:\/\/www.on-a.es\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">ON-A<\/a> therein, urge planners, policymakers and communities alike to proactively consider not only the growth in drone activity but what a successful, societally and socially beneficial drone future might and could look like.<\/p>\n<div class=\"mk-custom-module-container\">\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Dr Anna Jackman and Dr Paul Cureton discuss new guidance published by the Royal Town Planning Institute that urges planners to proactively consider how they can shape a successful and socially beneficial future for the technology.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":165640,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[38487],"tags":[173389,904,649],"stakeholder_rel_tag":[],"contributor_rel_tag":[173423,173424],"class_list":{"0":"post-165633","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-construction-technology-news","8":"tag-digital-construction-today-september-2026","9":"tag-drones","10":"tag-planning-applications"},"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.9 (Yoast SEO v26.9) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Why planners need to be proactive about drones | Planning, Building &amp; 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