hi there swift!
what you are doing is excellent….
but if people sound perhaps “over-cautious” nowadays its because there is actually now an actual stand-off situation between various sections of society over the right to party. for 16 years people partied despite locals whinges, and the locals have struck back by demanding harsher laws and better enforcement (which cops have tried to give them)
what you say about the law is true – it is stil legal to have a private event with the owners’ permission provided no-one in the vicinity complains of being “distressed” or “alarmed” by this event.
but it takes just a few whinging nimbys to call the cops complaining about noise/bad parking/contamination from shit etc and they can potentially take action against both organisers and the owner of the venue.’
last year one of our local crews tried this with a farm – they had full permission. However, some people living nearby to the farm grassed up the event and the farmer has been summonsed to Court on licensing violations
OTOH in areas such as some parts of Wales where the locals have been mostly supportive similar events have been happened and the cops didn’t even turn up as there is no offence committed when there are no complaints!
It depends so much on area though; near where I used to live some well-off family had a perfectly legitimate wedding party and loads of neighbours complained because it went on until about 04:00.
A resulting debate on a local forum was full of posts from people adamant that although everyone has a right to celebrate their wedding, the event should have finished at a “decent hour” such as midnight or 02:00 at the latest :bitter:
that is the attitude ravers are really up against; TBH cops only shut down raves because locals whinge about them – and you aren’t in the best area for tolerance. We’ve even had at least two surrey locals posting on this board to complain about aspects of raves – the fact they have the courage to do show shows their anger….
that said if you can manage the sound levels and traffic / pollution (like any other responsibly run event) so no one is disturbed you may get away with it..
