Sleepless night as Sidley rocks

ANGRY councillors who lost a night's sleep because of noise from a 22-hour weekend rave on farmland are asking why Rother didn't take action.

Now they are asking what action Rother will take if another rock music rave said to be planned for a month's time becomes a reality.

Rother community services department says that, unlike an earlier event which resulted in the landowner being prosecuted for allowing the rave on his land, they had no advanced intelligence.

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Officers monitored the noise but have been unable to trace the owner, who is believed to live abroad.

Keith Bridger is county councillor for north Bexhill. His wife Helen is a Sidley member on Rother.

Their Sidley home in Carfax Close is more than a quarter of a mile from the field off Watermill Lane where the rave was held.

Yet they say the thumping bass from loudspeakers in the field not only kept them and their neighbours awake despite double glazing but made the windows rattle.

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Now they are questioning why Rother did not do as it did two years ago, monitor sound levels and take the landowner to court. On that occasion, a rave resulted in a 3,000 fine.

Police told the Observer they received only five complaints about last weekend's rave and that their powers are limited because the event had not been advertised and no charge had been made for admission.

Sector commander Inspector Max Mosley said that the organisers had reduced the volume when asked by police.

Police put the number attending the function at about 75.

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