Planning permission for a model aircraft flying site

Flying model aircraft or drones from a field, as an organised club or a commercial activity, is normally a material change of use of the land and needs planning permission. Occasional informal flying by the landowner is a different matter and usually falls outside planning control altogether. The line between the two is intensity: how often, how many people, how many aircraft, and whether anything has been built to support it.

The decisive issues at application stage are rarely aviation ones. They are noise, disturbance to nesting birds and livestock, and the parking and shelters that come with regular use.

Whether recreational flying is a material change of use

Section 55 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 makes a material change in the use of land development. Grass that is grazed or cut for hay, used a handful of times a year by the owner to fly a model glider, has not changed its use in any meaningful sense. A field used every weekend by 30 club members, with a mown strip, a pit area, a container and a car park, plainly has.

Between those poles the question is one of fact and degree, and authorities look at frequency, numbers, duration, the presence of built development and whether the agricultural or other primary use continues. Charging for access, advertising the site, holding competitions and installing fixed facilities all push towards a material change.

Where a club is forming, the honest advice is to apply. Operating on the assumption that the use is incidental, then being served an enforcement notice after three seasons, is a worse outcome than a conditioned permission.

The 28 day temporary use route and its limits

Class B of Part 4 of Schedule 2 to the GPDO 2015 permits the temporary use of land for any purpose for not more than 28 days in total in any calendar year, with a lower limit of 14 days for certain uses, and subject to the provision of any moveable structure for the purposes of that use.

Four limits matter here. The 28 days are cumulative across all temporary uses of that land in the year, so a field also used for a point-to-point and a car boot sale has fewer days available. The days are counted in whole days, not hours. The rights do not apply to land within the curtilage of a building and are restricted on certain designated land. And nothing permanent can be erected, so a container, a hard-surfaced pit or a toilet block takes the use outside the class.

For a club flying most weekends from spring to autumn, 28 days will not cover the season. The class is useful for a one-off fly-in or a trial period, and it is a reasonable way to generate evidence about noise and parking before applying for a permanent permission.

Noise from engines and rotors

Internal combustion model engines are the loudest element and the usual cause of objection. Small two-stroke engines produce a high-frequency sound that carries further than its level suggests and is difficult to screen with a bund or hedge. Electric aircraft and most multirotor drones are substantially quieter, which is why many clubs now propose electric-only operation as part of the application.

The right assessment framework depends on the source. Where the noise is intermittent human and model activity, a descriptive assessment with measured levels at the nearest noise-sensitive facade, set against the existing background, is what an environmental health officer wants. BS 4142:2014+A1:2019 is the method for any fixed plant such as a generator, and ProPG and BS 8233:2014 inform the judgement about residential amenity.

Evidence that helps:

• measured background levels at the nearest dwellings over a representative period
• measured source levels for the aircraft types proposed, at a stated distance
• the separation distance to each sensitive receptor, with intervening screening shown
• a noise management plan covering engine types, silencer specification, flight circuit orientation and a limit on simultaneous aircraft

Offer the flight circuit orientation as a control. Keeping the pattern on the far side of the strip from housing is cost-free and visibly responsive.

Disturbance to livestock, nesting birds and designated sites

This is the issue most applications underplay. Intentionally or recklessly disturbing certain wild birds while nesting is an offence under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981, and the protection is strongest for species listed on Schedule 1. Low-flying model aircraft and drones over open ground during the breeding season, March to August, are capable of causing exactly that disturbance.

Ground-nesting birds are the specific concern on the kind of open land these sites favour. Skylark, lapwing and curlew will desert nests in response to repeated overflight, and a site on or adjoining a Site of Special Scientific Interest, Special Protection Area or Ramsar site raises the stakes considerably. Where a European site is involved, the authority has duties under the Conservation of Habitats and Species Regulations 2017 and will need an appropriate assessment screening.

A preliminary ecological appraisal is the proportionate starting point, with a breeding bird survey where the habitat suggests ground-nesting species. Check the designations yourself first on the MAGIC mapping service and the planning data platform, so you know before you commission anything whether you are near a designated site. Our note on permission for a pontoon or slipway on a river shows how ecological constraints shape a small recreational proposal on sensitive land.

Livestock disturbance is a planning matter where neighbouring land is in agricultural use. Horses in particular react badly to sudden overhead noise, and an equestrian neighbour is a likely objector.

Parking, pits and shelters as development

Everything built to support the use is operational development in its own right, and each item needs to appear on the application drawings.

Where the field is in the Green Belt, buildings and hard surfacing engage the policy on inappropriate development, and outdoor sport and recreation facilities are treated differently from buildings. Where it is in a National Landscape or National Park, the design and siting of even a small container is scrutinised.

Aviation safeguarding and airspace restrictions

Airspace rules are regulated separately from planning, by the Civil Aviation Authority, and compliance with them is not a substitute for planning permission. The reverse is also true: planning permission does not authorise flying that breaches the Air Navigation Order.

Two planning-adjacent points are worth covering in the application. If the site lies within an aerodrome safeguarding zone or a Ministry of Defence safeguarding area, the relevant body is likely to be consulted, and a site near an approach path may attract an objection regardless of the small size of the aircraft. And if the club intends to fly above the standard height limit under an exemption, say so, because the authority will be asked about it by objectors and an unanswered question becomes a reason for deferral.

State plainly in the planning statement that operations will comply with the Air Navigation Order and CAA requirements, including registration and operator competency where applicable, and that nothing in the planning permission overrides them.

Hours, days and frequency controls

The negotiation is almost always about when, not whether. Offering a tight regime up front is the most effective way to get a permission that works.

A workable package usually includes a start time no earlier than 10am on Sundays and bank holidays, an end time related to dusk, a limit on the number of days per week, a cap on aircraft airborne simultaneously, electric-only operation on specified days, and a seasonal restriction during the bird breeding season on part of the site. Each of those is easier to live with than a refusal and a second application.

Conditions on numbers, hours and aircraft type

Expect a decision notice that controls the things that worried the officer, and read each condition for whether the club can actually comply.

1. Hours and days of flying, often differentiated for Sundays and bank holidays.
2. Aircraft type limits, for example electric only, or internal combustion engines with silencers to a stated specification.
3. A cap on the number of aircraft airborne at any one time.
4. Flight circuit restricted to an area shown on an approved plan.
5. A noise management plan to be approved and then implemented.
6. Breeding season restrictions, either seasonal cessation on part of the site or a buffer from an identified nesting area.
7. Removal of containers and reinstatement if the use ceases.
8. Parking laid out and retained, with no surfacing beyond the approved extent.

The aircraft type condition is the one to negotiate hardest, because it determines who can use the site. A condition framed by a measured noise limit at a boundary point is better for a club than a condition naming permitted engine types, since it allows quieter petrol engines to be used as the technology improves.

A proportionate planning statement covering use classification, noise, ecology, access and the proposed controls, with a design and access statement for the built elements, is the core of a small application like this. The approach to intensity and seasonal conditions is similar to that for using a field for camping through the summer, and for lighting and noise on an outdoor recreation site the floodlit riding arena case is a useful comparison.

This is general guidance, not legal advice. Check the position with your local planning authority or a qualified professional before relying on it.

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