Cork City Council issues warning letter to drone delivery service over landing area

Enforcement file comes amid objections by residents, with a petition to stop drone noise in Cork and Dublin recently receiving hundreds of signatures

Manna began operating from a base in the Marina area in February. Picture: Larry Cummins

Cork City Council has opened an enforcement file in relation to a drone delivery service which recently began operating in the southside of Cork City.

The service, which sees food delivered by drone to people’s homes, began operating from a base in the Marina area in February. The company, Manna Drone Delivery, operates similar services in Dublin.

A council spokesperson said it had “opened an enforcement file in relation to a drone delivery operation based at Centre Park Road”, issuing a warning letter to the operators of the service on April 17.

“The matter of immediate concern to the planning authority is the purported use or development of part of the site as a drone/aerial delivery hub, land use issues, and the erection of cabin and boundary fencing,” they said, adding the operators were entitled to make submissions or observations in writing no later than four weeks from the date of the letter.

After this point, the council will decide on whether to proceed with enforcement action.

The enforcement file relates to the company’s landing area only, and not its operations in the sky. While local authorities are responsible for zoning, land use and general planning matters on the ground, the Irish Aviation Authority (IAA) is the regulatory body for the airspace.

The council’s transport strategic policy committee recently hosted representatives from the IAA, who said it only dealt with the safety aspect of drone operations at the moment, but a working group examining concerns like noise and privacy was being established.

Chair of the committee, Labour’s Peter Horgan, said the council must be part of that working group.

“There must be a mechanism for residents impacted to cite their issues to an independent body. This isn’t about one provider, it’s about the entire special issue of drones as delivery for consumables.” 

It comes amid objections by residents, with a petition to stop drone noise in Cork and Dublin recently receiving hundreds of signatures. The petition describes “repeated loud noise overhead, intrusion into gardens and outdoor space, many times per hour, day after day”.

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A Manna spokesperson said: "We will respond shortly to Cork City Council and will continue engaging with officials, as we have done since before commencing operations."