By Carole Dennett
Cowes residents expressed anger and frustration at a meeting on Friday about the proposed drone trial at Mornington Road car park. They told the IW Council exactly what they thought of how the plans had been handled – and it wasn’t a glowing reference.
Council officers, the cabinet member for regeneration, Cllr Julie Jones-Evans, and representatives from Inteliports, the proposed drone operators, attempted to address criticisms on multiple fronts, but failed to provide convincing answers. The trial, initially set to begin on August 7 and requiring the car park to be closed for six months, had already been postponed by a week to enable the hastily-organised meeting which around 40 people attended. At least some residents’ points hit home as, on Tuesday, the council issued a brief statement confirming that the trial would be delayed “until after the summer holidays” to give them time to reconsider the site’s access licence.
Residents raised legal points, including that the council had not applied for a change of use for the land to become a drone site.
Council representatives admitted to being uncertain about the planning situation, and were seeking further clarification.
An early claim by Inteliports that the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) had authorised the trial was debunked, when a resident revealed the CAA had told him that permission was not in place. The company’s representatives were forced to explain they only had permission for Part A, allowing drones to fly vertically up and down, and were still waiting for Part B, which would permit horizontal flight over land and the Solent.
Questions about an exemption for flying within 50 metres of people remained unanswered as Inteliports refused to disclose their safety case to the CAA, calling it their “intellectual property.” After the meeting, the IW Observer was told that the council would also not receive these details, leaving to trust that Inteliports would comply with any CAA-imposed safety conditions.
One retired engineer highlighted risks and quoted “sod’s law” – if something can go wrong it will, mentioning drones often fall or can be hacked, citing examples from the Ukraine-Russia conflict. He questioned what would prevent a “lonely teenager” from hacking a drone and turning it into a weapon. The response to his concerns was dismissive: “We are not operating at a distance and we’re not in Ukraine or Russia. We use an encrypted radio link.”
Sir David Clementi, former chairman of the BBC, delivered stinging criticism, accusing the council of breaching at least five of its own decision-making principles and asked how the “shambolic process” was to be sorted out. To a round of applause, he asked for a full record of the meeting be sent to the Regeneration Board and posted on the council’s website, for the Corporate Scrutiny Committee to examine the proposals and hold a public meeting, and for the final decision to be made by the IW Council’s full cabinet. Cllr Jones-Evans “noted” his comments.
Another resident suggested a rota system to ensure uninvolved people were always present in the car park, preventing the drones from landing. It was confirmed that the drones would then have to be relocated and “We will not stop you protesting”.
The lack of public consultation promised in an earlier meeting led to Cllr Jones-Evans saying she would have to “take that on the chin and apologise”, which led to calls to halt the process.
The council representatives said they would take the residents’ points into consideration and in Tuesday’s statement said that further information would be made public as soon as possible.
