Agenda item

Briefing note of the Director of City Services and Commercial

The Business, Economy and Enterprise Scrutiny Board (3) received a briefing note and presentation of the Director of City Services and Commercial on the projects that the City Council was currently involved with that related to the use of drone technology. A representative of the Contractor, the Technology Manager from Midland Airspace, and the CEO from Skyfarer, attended the meeting for this item.

Drones were unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) that were increasingly being used for a range of activities within both military and civilian environments, with use regulated by Government through the Civil Aviation Authority.

Coventry City Council had been a partner in a range of projects relating to the use of drone technology, including the first-of-a-kind demonstration of the Urban Air Port (UAP) on the Westminster Road Car Park in Coventry City Centre in May 2022. This showcased the construction and operation of a facility from which passenger and freight carrying drones could potentially operate and attracted international attention to Coventry. The UAP demonstration highlighted some of the current limitations on drone use, as traffic management measures were required during drone operations to ensure that drones were not operating over live traffic. This, combined with the restrictions over operating drones beyond the visual line of sight, restricted the capability for using drones for more mainstream activities such as undertaking parcel deliveries, moving light freight around cities, and moving essential items such as medical supplies.

Since the UAP demonstration, the Council had been a partner in other projects relating to drone technology:

·  Project Skyway - to examine the regulatory framework that controls the operation of drones in the UK to identify how this needs to be adapted to support the safe operation of drones for mainstream activities. 

·  The Drone Ready City project - led by Midlands Air Alliance with grant funding of £285,000 from the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology, it focussed upon leading the development of processes aimed at supporting local authorities in the integration of drones into their everyday activities. 

Examples of the uses that the City Council was making of drone technology, in partnership with Skyfarer (a spin off company from Coventry University), included:

·  Traffic surveys

·  Bridge and Building inspections

·  Building surveys

·  A project for the transportation of medical supplies between the Hospital sites at Rugby and Walsgrave, Coventry.

Other potential uses included the ability to send a drone to investigate causes of congestion, delivering goods between Council buildings, supporting security patrols by covering larger areas more quickly than a ground patrol, and undertaking surveys of highway condition.

The outputs from the Drone Ready City project had been shared with other local authorities through a series of demonstrations and events, including attendance at the Local Government Association annual meeting. Involvement with the project had further enhanced Coventry’s reputation as a City Council that was at the cutting edge of transport technology, embracing projects such as Coventry Very Light Rail as well as the testing of autonomous vehicles on the Council’s highway network. 

The involvement of the City Council in these projects had also demonstrated the potential value that drone technology could have in reducing costs, reducing emissions, and increasing efficiency associated with a range of Council activities, and as these initial projects drew to a close, there would be a review on how these technologies could be integrated with the Council’s “business as usual” to maximise these benefits.

There were potential direct and indirect health benefits from the integration of drone technology into the transport system, including the improved efficiency of delivery systems for general goods, medical supplies and Council services, reduced emissions through reduced reliance on road transport, and by reducing the exposure of Council staff to risks associated with activities such as bridge and building inspections where working at height or within confined spaces might otherwise be required.

In considering the briefing note and a presentation by officers, the Board asked questions and received responses on matters in the following areas:

·  Security and privacy – mechanisms in place to ensure flight height, tracking drones, blanking out facial recognition, and ensuring the use did not impede data protection rules

·  Two flight operating uses - ‘beyond the line-of-sight operation’ and ‘flying closer to infrastructure’ - Maximum flight height 400ft

·  The deployment of drones to assist in delivering and/or improving City Council services

·  Provision for the disabled in the way things were delivered/accessed - would always start at addressing vulnerable people, then move forward from there.

·  The security of delivering medical supplies and medication

·  Drone in a box – secure boxes currently being developed

·  Provision for the Police to bring down drones in an emergency situation

·  Hacking into drone tech - standard security measures applied

·  Airports – rules for flying drones in segregated air space

·  Power outages – mitigation measures in place. Plans in place that would allow time to take appropriate action, to ensure continuation of Drone use without interruption

·  Through risk assessments undertaken - part of submission requesting use of drones was that assurance was provided that risk had been assessed, before a flight was approved

·  Future use of drones could be considered for fly tipping, monitoring driverless vehicles, areas identified as having anti-social behaviour issues, and modelling for construction projects

·  Fly Tipping Drone Project in Burnley – an update be sent to Members of the Board in due course

·  Current use of drones for traffic and highways issues

·  Future proofing was essential during development of drone use

·  Drone funding still to be quantified. Current funding exhausted. New funding streams being investigated

·  Footage – anything from 15 minutes up to 3 hours footage could be captured on varying drones depending on the technology being applied

·  Web links to drone open data – to be shared with Members of the Board

·  Partnership development – being considered, further work with Legal Services required

·  Data reliability – piece of equipment would need to be acquired to enable reliable thermal imaging

Members requested that Web links to drone open data be circulated to them and that they be provided with an update on the Fly Tipping Drone Project being undertaken in Burnley, in due course.

RESOLVED that the Business, Economy and Enterprise Scrutiny Board (3) notes and supports the use of drone technology for Local Authority projects for the delivery of Council services.