The launch of a drone corridor between the mainland and Cowes has been pushed back a week to enable the Isle of Wight Council to further engage with concerned residents. The commercial operation – a collaboration between Vodafone, Inteliports and the Isle of Wight Council – will see 8-prop drones flying between Marchwood and Mornington Road car park in Cowes, up to 6 times a day. It is in a bid to demonstrate the impact drones can have on the Isle of Wight, improving the community’s access to goods and decarbonising Island logistics. It was originally planned for the car park to close this week, until 7th February next year. However, the start of the Department for Transport-backed scheme has now been postponed. It follows protests from locals who have made clear their upset at the plans, saying ‘no drones here’. A spokesperson for the Isle of Wight Council has said:
“The Regeneration project team wishes to thank local residents, businesses and councillors in Cowes for sharing their feedback regarding the upcoming Inteliports drone trial in Mornington Road Car Park. “We appreciate the time taken to express concerns and have heard feedback. We have therefore decided to delay the start of the trial for 1 week to allow an opportunity to meet with residents in person to discuss concerns. “We will be holding a resident’s event this week. We are using a ticketing system to ensure that we prioritise the attendance of local residents. We ask that priority is given to local residents in the area surrounding the trial location”.
it would seem that if they have only ‘delayed’ this rediculous scheme, and only by one week,..
they have absolutely no intention of taking any notice at all of any concerns from local residents.
if they were serious about it, they would have posponed it until an agreeable solution was found.
What’s ridiculous about it? Seems like a great idea to me? What are the negatives?
That is because this is a STUPID idea!! One drone bringing small packages… Makes no sense, accident waiting to happen.
Surely the idea is to scale up?? This is trial right? If a drone fails over water what’s the problem?
Just ignore this bunch of Luddite simpletons and get on with it.
Beware! The NIMBYs are about!!!
I don’t see any problem with drones. Surely it is for the benefit of us all & I don’t see that there will be much negative impact on the Island.
Another example of the IOW Council and Planning Department going ahead with something with inadequate public consultation – then holding public consultation – will they then say ‘we listened but we are doing it anyway’?
Wish we had the same chance to say no to the homeless shelter on pan that just got set up without anyone having a chance to say no I’m sure that causes more disruption and noise and mess than some drones flying over in fact let’s do a swap see if they are up for that in cowes?
Too many nimbys for such a small carpark. On one hand, I can see that its a private venture with Vodafone, so they should rent their own land, it scares birds away etc… But it also possibly takes away business from the ferry duopoly.
Taking business away from the rip off ferries is a winner in my book.
The drones will be able to carry up to 25kgs in weight and will be the size of a small mini. As someone who regularly walks along this stretch I have concerns for my safety and if Cowes will become a terrorist target. A place to intercept the drones and send them across to the power station. I have no issues with drones per se but I am concerned about them flying off target and security. Drones are being used in warfare in the Ukraine.
The term “drone” covers everything from full sized and fully armed remote controlled fighter planes (as used in Ukraine) right down to sub-150g micro drones. All of them have the capability to cause harm, but then again, so can a bag of apples depending how you use it.
Intercepting drones is much harder than you’d think because they have built in security and anti-tamper measures. Also, even for sub-150g micro drones, the CAA insist that a pilot is in direct line of sight and full control at all times, so you can imagine that something weighing well in excess of 25kg is going to be subject to a lot of scrutiny.
Not that it matters because there is no way that six 25kg packages per day is going to be commercially viable.
Yeah. And illegals might use them instead of boats……..or something.
I mean, literally nothing stopping terrorists to fly drones over Cowes or power station right now? They can buy them at a shop like anybody else and since they’re, you know, criminals, they will not care about having a drone license or respecting the fly paths.
How is this experiment going to add to the risk?
FB3 Heavy drone can carry 100kg and you can just buy it if you want. No need to intercept anything.
unbelievable The small Islands off Scotland have used drones for a while now for prescription s etc no hint of any murky terrorist activity lonely Cowes resident on The Island and probably a Daily Fail reader to boot,!.
Worrying about nothing here. A terrorist could just get his/her own drone. No need to intercept these.
Drones carry all kinds of payload, From good to bad…….
Their usefulness is beyond proven. Trials are B.S, so what really is on board? And why?
Because they got a government grant to do it.
Hold on anything to help levitate transport on the Island is a good thing, why will it upset Cowes residents when, unless I am mistaken it is a straight flight line between the mainland departure point and Mornington Rd car Park, so how will it effect the Cowes residents
Dear me! They will want those dangerous electric telephones on the Island next or horseless carriages…
If the service is anything like
Wightlink, Red Funnel or the Floating Bridge
It will be a disaster.
For goodness sake, it’s a trial. Form an opinion after the trial. I’m not too enamoured with Isle of Wight council but we elect the council to make decisions and then moan when they do and try to impede them. You can’t please all of the people all of the time . Over 14000 people from Cowes and 140,000 on the island did not protest. I assume that this is a trial for something to benefit the whole island. Drones are coming anyway, right up to passenger models and the birds will not stop them.
It’s a very small area completely surrounded by trees. One good crash and they’ll soon realise their stupidity. Should have gone to the County Showground area or the Somerton Ind. Estate outside what was Steve Porter (good onward transport link)