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PARTY: Illegal ravers anger villagers
AN ILLEGAL rave attended by thousands of people on a former Ministry of Defence site has left residents fuming. Huge convoys of cars and vans began arriving at the private land, off the A47 near the village of King's Cliffe, near Oundle, on Saturday evening. Chains on a security gate were removed with heavy cutting gear.
It is thought that more than 4,000 people from across the region travelled to the rave after details of it were posted on the internet.
Residents said ravers could be seen racing cars, drinking, dancing and lighting bonfires as a powerful sound system churned out loud music all Saturday night. The last of ravers finally left the site yesterday, leaving behind their litter and other rubbish.
Police officers were at the scene and kept a close eye on the situation, but said they decided not to force the ravers to move on in case disorder broke out.
Local residents say it's simply not enough and tougher action should have been taken.
Bernard Howard, a member of King's Cliffe Parish Council, owns an arable farm which backs on to the site.
He said: "There were people there who were openly drinking and taking drugs, then driving their cars both on and off the site.
"If they killed somebody on the A47 or on a nearby road it will be the fault of the police. All they were doing was observing, when they should have been stopping all vehicles going in and out, carrying out breath tests and searching for drugs."
The land was formerly part of nearby RAF Wittering, but was decommissioned three years ago and is currently up for sale.
Mr Howard said there had been six raves on the site since the RAF left.
He added: "Why should we have to put up with load music all day and night and having rubbish strewn all over the place?
"This is by far the biggest of all the raves that have taken place here and everyone in Kings Cliffe is furious at the way it has been dealt with by the police."
Officers from both Cambridgeshire and Northamptonshire police were monitoring the rave. A police helicopter was seen circling the site.
Inspector Clinton Hale, of Cambridgeshire police, said officers had not sought to forcibly remove people from the site because of fears it could turn violent.
He said: "There were too many people there and we did not have enough officers on duty to deal with it safely.
"In this sort of situation, if we sent a team of officers in, it could potentially develop into a riot.
"We will, though, be collecting intelligence and will deal with the organisers."
Inspector Hale said local officers received a call on Saturday from colleagues in Suffolk to say they believed a rave was planned for the area.
Within hours huge convoys of cars and vans were spotted travelling along the A47 towards the site.
Norfolk police trailed one convoy which had set off from the Thetford area and it is thought other ravers had travelled from Northampton, Luton, Bedford and Wisbech. 18 April 2006
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Illegal weekend ravers moved on
http://news.bbc.co.uk
Monday, 17 April 2006, 17:34 GMT 18:34 UK
People living near the site of an illegal weekend rave have complained that police were slow to act when hundreds of revellers arrived. Officers moved in on Monday to break up the rave on a former RAF base in King's Cliffe, near Oundle, Northamptonshire, which began on Saturday night.
On Monday they were being told to go or face arrest and police have promised to continue regular patrols.
There was a rave on the same site in November last year.
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Police targeting illegal raves
http://news.bbc.co.uk/
Saturday, 15 April 2006, 12:51 GMT 13:51 UK
A crack down on illegal raves is underway with extra police officers on duty to carry out patrols in potential trouble spots.
Some planned events in Suffolk were foiled ahead of the Easter Bank Holiday and in Bury St Edmunds several arrests were made as an event was being set up.
Suffolk Police are asking people to make early reports of suspected events.
Supt Mike Shields said some events have been stopped before they got under way but they know others are being planned.
Police say they will search anyone attending a rave for drugs and will seek evidence of illegal drinking.
"We are taking this operation very seriously because of the dangers to public order and the welfare of those taking part," Supt Shields said.
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