Rural peace hit by rave

BANK holiday weekend peace and quiet was shattered for residents of a downland village by a rave attended by around 1,000 people in the early hours of Sunday morning.

Police have pledged to take action against the organisers of the event, at Madehurst, near Arundel, and are working with landowners and Arun District Council to clamp down on the dance music sessions.

The open countryside around Madehurst has been used for raves on a number of occasions over the past decade, leading to police action.

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Officers were alerted to Sunday morning's disturbance in the early hours. Chief Insp Steve Whitton, the Arun police commander, said: "We are fully investigating this incident and will take action against the organisers. This rave was distressing for local people, with the noise and disruption it caused. Ideally, we would have liked to have had a chance of preventing it from starting.

"We will be providing preventative patrols in the coming weeks. We will be working with Arun District Council, landowners and Neighbourhood Watch to prevent future raves happening and, should they do so, ensure appropriate action is taken against the organisers.

"It is important that we use a multi-agency approach, pulling together a range of experience, knowledge and resources to tackle the problem."

He added: "If we can get early notification, we have a far better chance of preventing a rave from starting. We need residents and landowners in the rural areas to be vigilant and report any suspicious activity immediately."

The police need to know of:

* any information that an illegal rave is to take place;

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* any sightings of lorries or large numbers of vehicles gathering near woods or rural car parks;

* sightings of fliers advertising raves;

* broken padlocks on access gates, to areas where a rave may take place.

Any information should be reported to Sussex Police on 0845 6070999 as soon as possible.

Councillor Roger Elkins, Arun cabinet member for community safety, said: We will support any operation to help curb raves taking place in the Arun district."