Illegal rave draws 800 to beauty spot
The peaceful corner of West Berkshire was shattered when ravers started arriving at Combe Gibbet late on Saturday night.
Thames Valley Police, who were alerted by alarmed residents at 12.30am, issued a section 63 order stating that all participants must leave the site by 10am on Sunday.
But the last of the party-goers did not leave until 6.45pm on Sunday - more than 18 hours after the rave began.
The aftermath of the event, which saw the number of ravers swell to 800 at 3am and music continue to blare until 10am despite the police presence, left the well-known West Berkshire landmark scattered with litter, broken glass and drugs paraphernalia.
The partygoers, who arrived in an estimated 150 vehicles which were then left abandoned on village lanes, also rolled a Land Rover, belonging to Kirby Estate’s head game keeper, used to block an entrance to the estate.
Police and Crime Commissioner Anthony Stansfeld, who is also the district council ward member for Combe, defended the police’s handling on the night.
“If we go in mob-handed with people we will probably make the problem worse. It’s about doing it carefully and gradually and getting it to disperse rather than rushing in with squads.”
Owner of Combe Manor, David Russell, said residents as far away as Inkpen and Buttermere were kept awake by noise.
“It was very obvious and not very pleasant,” he said. “A lot of people heard it because it was quite a quiet night. They weren’t a very nice lot from all accounts.”
Mr Russell added: “We are going to do everything that we can to stop it from happening again.”
The aftermath could still be felt in the days that followed, with Hungerford taxi driver Mark Townsend stating it had impacted upon his business as well as damaging the beauty of the area.
“On Monday there was a mountain of rubbish to be cleared, empty beer cans, broken beer bottles and cardboard boxes,” he said.
“The verges were damaged with cars parking on them and when you think how beautiful the area is, and how many walkers come to the area it's a real shame.”
Mr Stansfeld continued; “These things are always alarming when they happen. It’s difficult when you have very large numbers of people which this rave did.
“A lot of these young people who go to these occasions claim to be concerned about the environment and then they go and trash the area, leaving litter and drug paraphernalia around.
“I think on the whole we cope with raves pretty well, and we do our best to ensure that landowners and the public are not inconvenienced, but very often we’re not aware and it’s up to the public to inform us so we can do something about it.”
Four men were arrested on suspicion of failure to leave the site and three of them for possession of drugs.