THE size of Herefordshire Council’s fleet of drones, and the range of uses to which they are put in the county, have been revealed.

A freedom of information request asked whether the council owned, leased, operated, or contracted the use of any drones for enforcement, regulatory, compliance, investigative, community safety, anti-social behaviour, environmental crime, planning enforcement, parking enforcement, or similar monitoring or evidential purposes, and if so, how many?

The council said among its drones, all made by Chinese firm DJI, its highways and public realm department use various models as does its environmental health and trading standards officers while housing officers use an alternative drone.

The uses for these include investigating environmental incidents, monitoring trading standards and repairs on council-owned buildings, highways inspections, and “assisting homelessness outreach teams with welfare”, the council said, adding the drones “aren’t deployed routinely”.

It maintains a deployment log listing reasons for each flight, dates, times, durations, locations, weather conditions and battery condition, it added.

Separately, the council’s website lists 15 occasions so far this year it has deployed drones over residential areas in the county – mostly at travellers’ sites, legitimate or otherwise, to check for unauthorised encampments or dumped waste.

“The drone will never be flown covertly and the landowner will always be made aware prior to flight,” its webpage says.

The council may share its drone footage with police for the detection and prevention of crime, according to its FOI answer.

Asked whether its drones incorporate AI or other image analysis, the council said all use object detection “for flight safety purposes”.

But while Housing’s Mavic drone uses thermal imaging, none provide facial recognition.

The council also confirmed it does not currently use facial recognition technology or AI video analytics with the CCTV cameras it operates in built-up public areas of the county.