Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask His Majesty's Government what rights of appeal (1) house owners, and (2) landowners, will have on the designation of drone corridors.

Drone corridors do not currently exist as a defined term or policy.

Current work to further the potential of drone operations is focused on enabling Beyond Visual Line of Sight operations and the integration of new airspace users - including drones - into the UK’s airspace.

Current airspace change policy (the CAP 1616 process) requires that any permanent change is done following consultation with affected stakeholders, including those on the ground. This CAP 1616 process is required for any change to airspace design, including in the event of the proposed establishment of corridors to support drone operations. Any permanent proposed change would also need to be consistent with the overall developing Airspace Modernisation Strategy - widely consulted upon and due to be published in the coming weeks.

Project Skyway is a project that is part of a UKRI Challenge Fund, the Future Flight Challenge (FFC). Project Skyway has received public funding and has been developed and progressed by private companies. Any drone demonstration project under the FFC must comply with current regulation, and the outputs of all FFC projects will then be used to inform detailed policy and further regulation. The guiding input principles have been to develop the industry by bringing together diverse groups of stakeholders such as local authorities, technology innovators and end users such as the NHS. The projects have been designed to push regulatory boundaries to enable the industry to provide the resultant connectivity, economic and environmental benefits to the UK.

Government is engaging with local authorities to discuss these new flight technologies. Many FFC projects include local authorities, and Project Skyway includes Oxfordshire County Council, Coventry Country Council and Reading Borough Council.