Council voted to create the new law requiring permits to fly drones on municipal land at an ordinary meeting on Wednesday last week.

However it will not be enforced until a new committee to develop the policy behind the law has been formed in February.

Skyline Drone Imaging owner Luke Parker said he and other operators were eager to voice their opinions on the new local law.

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“We are more than happy to sit down and meet with council,” he said.

“Our main perspective was more consultation, and then with council and everyone, come to an agreement on where things should go from there.

“That is all I was looking for, we didn’t ask for it to be completely stopped, we just asked for more consultation and put a pause or hold on that law.”

Mr Parker had asked council to defer a decision on the law and better clarify its implementation when he spoke at Wednesday’s council meeting.

The decision to meet with operators was a win for opponents of the new law, who said drone rules were already adequately defined under Civil Aviation Safety Authority regulations.

These regulations ban flying drones within 30 metres of people, including in public spaces, or on private property.

A number of Ballarat City councillors have told The Courier, the process for implementing the law could have been more consultative.

Cr Jim Rinaldi said he had read through the by laws extensively when it came to sections regarding animal ownership, but the prospect of new drone laws had never been raise by staff in briefings he attended.

“I was there for the briefing, but I don’t believe to my knowledge, it was discussed,” he said.

“The document was pretty well forced through, we were told ‘this has got to go through’, and we may have failed in certain areas.

“It (the drone laws) were not brought to our attention or explained.”

Cr Belinda Coates said it was not predicted how much angst the new law would cause, but it was a starting point for discussion as further policy was developed.

“In hindsight it probably should have been flagged, but it is not an insurmountable problem,” she said.