Flying A Drone In Oxford - 2024 UK Drone Guide
The city of Oxford is well known for its stunning 12th century buildings and surrounding architecture. Its abundance of beautiful university colleges paired with pristine grounds makes for a wonderful city to film and photograph from above.
Like most major cities in the UK however, several local laws and restrictions have been put in place beyond the CAA Drone Code to prevent people flying dangerously within protected and built-up areas. Therefore I’ve highlighted the more restrictive areas to fly drones in and how to go about getting approval to operate within them.
Contents:
Oxford University Parks Drone Flying
Drone flying for recreational purposes within the Oxford University Parks is prohibited. Operators wishing to fly for commercial reasons will need to provide a flight plan, risk assessment and their public liability insurance to the parks team for approval. They can be contacted via email here
The University safety office has outlined their specific drone operating requirements here
Furthermore, if you are going to be employed to operate on University grounds, they will require you to hold a minimum £10 million public liability insurance.
2. Oxford City Council Parks & Open Spaces
Oxford City Council maintains several parks and open spaces across the city. Sadly however, they have taken a blanket view across all their parks that drone & model aircraft flying shall be prohibited. It is important therefore to make sure you don’t infringe these park boundaries when operating nearby.
If you have a commercial need to fly within these parks, you can contact them via email here with your request.
Below is a list of all the parks in Oxford which are looked after by the Oxford City Council:
3. Wytham Woods Drone Flying
Wytham Woods is a site of special scientific interest and covers an area of 1000 acres north-west of the city centre. It has been maintained by Oxford University since 1942 so operating drones within this area comes under similar rules to operating within the University Parks.
To gain permission to fly in the woods, you must submit your flight request along with insurance, flight plan and risk assessment to Nigel Fisher. You can find his email address here
Like the University Parks, as a third party operator, you will need £10 million public liability insurance.
On the day of flying, they require you to call Oxford airport and Brize Norton air traffic control to let them know of your flight intentions. As Wytham Woods is outside both Brize Norton’s and Oxford Airport’s flight restriction zone, you don’t need their permission to fly, it is simply good airmanship to let them know what your flight plan is.
All Wytham Woods’ drone operating information can be found here
4. Wildlife Reserves
Oxford has several ongoing wildlife conservation projects and initiatives, all of which are maintained by Berkshire, Buckinghamshire & Oxfordshire Wildlife Trust. These areas highlighted in light blue above include Pixey Mead, Sydlings Copse, C.S. Lewis Nature Reserve and Iffley Meadows. More exist to the South-East and South-West of the City of Oxford and can be found on the NoFlyDrones map here
Permission from the Wildlife Trust will need to be granted in order to fly over these areas. This can be done by emailing them here. Do bear in mind though that flying permission is normally only granted if deemed to benefit the Wildlife Trust’s objectives.
5. Flying A Drone Near The Railway Track
Oxford Railway station is located on the Western side of the city and Network Rail operates a number of lines through the station in a North-South orientation. If you are hoping to operate within the 100-metre corridor covering the railway line, Network Rail has outlined some operational guidance for drone users wishing to fly near/ over the tracks.
For hobbyist pilots, they require you to abide by The CAA Drone Code and remind you that you could be personally liable for damages if you don’t hold public liability insurance in excess of £5 million.
For professional operators, Network Rail’s drone guidance is more detailed. You can find all their professional operating requirements here
If you have any concerns or queries, you can email Network Rail’s Air Operation Team here
6. Drone Flying Near Oxford Airport
London Oxford Airport is located to the North of the city and, like other airports in the UK, it has a a Flight Restriction Zone (FRZ) shown in red which is 2nm or 2.5nm in radius and has a runway protection zone 5nm by 1nm which extends at each end of the runway.
Flying within Oxford Airport’s FRZ is possible, but they require you to submit a flight request for approval at least 48 hours in advance of your flight. This can either be done via Altitude Angel’s website (shown above) or via the Drone Assist App. If you have a more urgent request, complete your application and call the airport office on +44 (0)1865 290650 during working hours.
It is worth noting that Oxford Airport’s FRZ is active 24 hours a day and all drones of any mass (yes that includes toy drones and sub 250g drones like the DJI Mini 4 Pro) are prohibited from operating within it without prior permission.
Finally, once approval has been granted, you must contact Oxford Air Traffic at least one hour before you intend to begin flying. Their contact number is: 01865 290 650.
For more details on the flight application process, please visit Oxford Airport’s Drone information page here
Their permit pricing is shown below:
Recreational - Day, Free
Commercial - Day, £10
Commercial - Permit, £30
7. The John Radcliffe Hospital Helipads
The John Radcliffe Hospital is located to the North-East of the city and has two helipads (although only one is operational at any given time). Due to ongoing maintenance work of the helipad and cladding repairs to the hospital building, only the helipad to the South-East of the hospital is currently operational.
Emergency helicopters operating in and out of the hospital will be flying below 400ft within the local area and during take-off and landing. It is critical therefore to always keep a good look-out for helicopters and if you spot one flying towards your drone, land immediately and wait until it has passed before flying again.
There are currently no airspace restrictions beyond the standard ground hazard warnings, but it would be wise to avoid operating close to the hospital unless absolutely necessary to do so.
8. Hire our CAA Certified Drone Pilot
We are commercially certified by the Civil Aviation Authority to complete drone filming across the UK. Public liability insurance, full risk assessments and airspace planning comes as standard with our rates. With a breadth of experience operating within demanding environments, we offer a service which is both competent and professional. Get in touch today to discuss your next aerial filming project with us.
Resources
With every successful drone flight comes proactive, thorough flight planning. Before every flight, there are several websites I would consult to check the airspace and surrounding area. Below I have linked a handful of those websites which you may find useful:
And Remember…
Even if you get all the required permissions to operate within these more restrictive areas, you must still abide by the drone code and regulations.
These can be found on the CAA website here.
Got a question about operating drones or hiring an approved drone operator in London? Drop us a line!