THE drones are here to stay, confirms secretary of the Mitchell Traders Association, Julian Kusa. 

He’s been lobbying Wing Australia (a subsidiary of Alphabet) to settle in Mitchell for months and he can now confidently say it will. “CityNews” understands the company will operate out of a building on Vicars Street. 

“They confirmed with me that they have lodged a DA for the proposed site,” he says.

“Operations will begin sometime in late January or February 2019.”

While Canberrans have voiced mixed feelings following the trial of drone delivery in Bonython, Mr Kusa says it’ll be a great investment for Wing, a great investment for Mitchell and great for the businesses.

“I think the vast majority of traders are quite excited,” he says.

“Primarily, we’re in an industrial area and Mitchell is a good fit for the company. It will also promote Mitchell as a place to invest in.

“There’s this stigma that Mitchell is an area where only construction workers and tradies work but that’s changed and there’s more retail services and we’re hoping Wing will further open up the area for greater investment.

“The area is quite noisy on a regular basis so complaints mostly shouldn’t be a problem.

“There’s businesses already looking at partnering up with Wing to deliver small goods.”

And while the Mitchell Traders Association are happy to announce Wing will be joining the suburb, Bonython resident Nev Sheather wrote in to “CityNews” in September saying a group has been formed by very unhappy residents who resent drones being flown over their houses and heads.

Why?

“These are large, noisy drones,” he says.

“You can hear them coming virtually from when they take off, zooming across the houses on the northern side of Bonython, over Stranger Pond and on to their deliveries. They sound like flying lawnmowers.”

But it’s not all about the noise for Nev, who says they’re totally intrusive too.