DRONES could be banned from much of Southend and Rochford as no-fly zones are set to be extended next month.

As of March 13, it will be illegal to fly a drone within three miles of an airport, an extension to the existing 0.6 mile exclusion zone.

The government also said it wants police to have new stop and search powers to tackle drone misuse.

This means that drone users will not be able to fly them around a significant portion of Southend and Rochford which surrounds Southend Airport.

Southend photographer Dawid Glawdzin said the increased zone size “is not the answer”.

He said: “I’m flying my drone mostly around Southend’s parks and seafront, adhering to the regulations at the same time – more than 1km from the airport, visual line of sight, under 120m, and avoiding people.

“I do take pictures and videos while I’m out there and I wouldn’t say I like flying just for the sake of it.

“Naturally, new regulations will affect me. Increasing the radius to 5km will vastly reduce some interesting flying spots around the town. I don’t believe this is the right answer.

“The vast majority of drone operators fly responsibly and unfortunately, we are affected just by couple ‘adventure-seeking’ morons out there.

“Perhaps a drone register is the right answer here.”

The new regulations follow disruption at Gatwick Airport in December, which was shut for more than a day after drone sightings near the runway.

It affected more than 1,000 flights and approximately 140,000 passengers. It is one of a number of disruptions.

Transport Secretary Chris Grayling said: “The law is clear that flying a drone near an airport is a serious criminal act.

“We’re now going even further and extending the no-fly zone to help keep our airports secure and our skies safe.”