Anyone goto a party quiet near to york last weekend?
Here's the headline article of todays paper.. hehe
Raving mad
by Mike Laycock
ANGER: Farmer Roger Raimes examines empty bottles, cans and a fire on the site of a rave on his land near Acaster Malbis
A FARMER called today for raves to be outlawed after his farm near York was "invaded" for the third time in less than a year.
Roger Raimes said about 50 ravers who picked padlocks to get into ancient woodland at Manor Farm, Acaster Malbis, last Saturday night, stayed there until 4pm on Sunday.
He said they disturbed residents in three neighbouring villages with loud rhythmic music, and lit fires, which in drier weather could have set the woodland alight.
He also claimed he witnessed drug taking by some of the ravers, who he said came from West Yorkshire.
But while police had been as helpful to him as possible, they had ultimately been powerless to act against the trespassers unless a criminal act had been committed, and he believed a change in legislation was needed.
Meanwhile, he was planning to barricade gates into the 50-acre Stub Wood this weekend, in case the ravers returned. He said two other raves had been held there last autumn, involving up to 500 people from as far away as Manchester and Nottinghamshire.
Selby MP John Grogan, informed about the raves by the Evening Press, said today there already was legislation empowering police to stop or prevent raves involving gatherings of more than 100 people and causing disturbance through amplified music.
But he planned to write to Chief Constable Della Cannings to ask whether she believed this legislation was sufficient or needed amending.
He also planned to table a Parliamentary Question today about the outcome of discussions held last year between the Home Office and the Association of Chief Police Officers, which had looked at whether the existing legislation needed changing.
Mr Raimes claimed raves were a social ill. "They embrace social behaviour which is a disgrace to us all."
He said people in Acaster Malbis, Stillingfleet, Acaster Selby and Moreby had been disturbed from midnight onwards last Saturday night "We had telephone calls from irate villagers who could not sleep."
Police visited the site, but the event continued until the following afternoon. "The ravers brought their own generators to drive the music, but there was no thought to bring toilets. All that filth was left to the landowner to cope with."
He said he felt hurt, just like a burglary victim, by the actions of people who had violated and defiled beautiful woodland.
He warned that if he was successful in barricading the wood, the ravers, who communicated through the internet, would find other sites. "These people are clever, well-informed. They know the law. They know they cannot be moved on as the law stands today."
Mr Raimes is a well-known landowner, who led a long and successful campaign in the 1980s and 1990s against a £200 million scheme to build a new town on Acaster Airfield.
Chief Inspector Andy Hirst, of York Police, said today that when police officers were called early on Sunday, they had visited the wood and found about 40 people there, whose behaviour seemed quite amiable and who had not committed criminal damage. Officers had not felt the noise to be excessive, but asked for it to be turned down. Chief Insp Hirst believed there was sufficient legislation to deal with such problems; the issue was more one of the practical problems for a limited number of officers dealing with large numbers of people, and a commonsense approach was needed.
