Party Vibe

UK Free Festivals report:

7-10 August 92. Romsey and Poles Lane, Otterbourne Hampshire .

Hampshire police attempt to prevent another large festival taking place – 200 police confront travellers and Sound System People , the gatherings taking place on two separate sites due to the police preventing them from joining up . The Poles Lane event is soured by a council incinerator building being torched -although it is never proven that the damage was caused by festival goers .Interestingly, there was no trouble the year before when the police did NOT intervene, indicating that it was probably better to simply leave the festival goers to their own devices and to tolerantly police the events .

The main action moves to Castlemorton which exceeds 25,000 in number .

Report on Torpedo Town 1992 from a Christian group advises tolerance

Take Romsey in Hampshire for example. In a situation of near anarchy, an invasion of 8,000 or so travellers defeated the combined police forces of Hampshire, Surrey, Sussex, Wiltshire, and Dorset,and succeeded in staging their ‘music’ festival. “We have no doubt that we stopped a free festival which could have attracted 20,000 people,” a Hampshire police spokesman said. “It could have been considerably worse if we had not acted.”

Engendered with fear and anxiety, the inhabitants of Romsey were disgruntled to witness a mass invasion of their personal liberties by people supported by their taxes. “I think the thing that sticks in the craw of most people more than anything is that they are sitting at home with their homes and property at risk,” suggested Mr Michael Colvin, MP for Romsey and Waterside. The absence of respect for property or the rights of others, the illegality of their lifestyle, and the general inconvenience caused by them, has detached society from these travellers. But established society’s opinion of them has also distanced the travellers from society.

Not all travellers are completely alienated from society. Fred Newman, a traveller who has worked on a flower farm for three years in Crowlas, Cornwall, has virtually been accepted as a member of the local community. “If I go down to the local village every one seems very nice,” he says. In a similar way, if the invasion of Romsey had resulted in a permanent existence of travellers at the Chivers Pit site, then the local Churches, with active social programmes for the ‘needy and neglected’, would have tried to achieve reconciliation. “Romsey was hit by this ‘invasion’ on a Friday night and by Monday morning everyone had left. There was no chance to come to grips with them,” explained Rev. L. Catterall of the Catholic Church.

The revelling party-going travellers, waxing and waning like the moon, place a time constraint on the local ‘host’ community, making it difficult for it to respond in an organised fashion. But Christians should consider integrating these free spirits into their social programmes to achieve true social justice and reconciliation.

http://www.ukrockfestivals.com/torpedo-town-free-festival.html

Police report:

HAMPSHIRE COUNTY COUNCIL

POLICE AUTHORITY ITEM 5

15 SEPTEMBER 1992

PUBLIC ORDER 6 – 10 AUGUST 1992

REPORT OF THE CHIEF CONSTABLE

1. Introduction

1.1 Over the period 6 – 10 August 1992, a number of events took place in Hampshire which necessitated considerable Police attention. This report summarises those events for the information of members.

2. The Law

2.1 Sections 12, 14, and 39 of the Public Order Act, 1986 deal with public processions, public assemblies and illegal trespass where serious public disorder, serious damage to property or serious disruption to the life of the communities may occur.

2.2 The Local Government Miscellaneous Provisions Act, 1982 deals with the licensing of public entertainments and places a statutory responsibility on the local authority for the
imposition of conditions relating to all safety and environmental issues (including noise pollution to local residents) before granting licences.

3. Background

3.1 During the Summer a number of large, illegal ‘festivals’ have been held in various parts of the Country, notably in West Mercia and Dyfed Powys in Wales. An attempt to hold such a festival in the Andover area at Midsummer was abandoned.

3.2 Following the successful ‘festivals’ in Wales, the next scheduled event, known as the Torpedo Town Festival was to be held in the Hampshire area. In 1991 this event had been held on Ministry of Defence land at Bramshott and some 10,000 people had attended, causing serious disruption to the community.

3.3 In the weeks leading up to the 7 – 10 August, action taken, in consultation with local authorities and landowners succeeded in dissuading the travellers from holding a festival in the area.

4. Events of 7 – 10 August 1992

4.1 Since early 1992 a substantial gathering of travellers had developed on land at Green Lane, Romsey. The ownership of this land was uncertain and this prevented Police action under Section 39 of the Public Order Act, 1986.

4.2 It was suspected that this site may have been the venue for a festival; consequently the Police took action to prevent further expansion of the settlement. A number of other potential sites were monitored and action taken to protect them.

4.3 During the afternoon of Friday, 7 August 1992, large numbers of travellers’ vehicles were in the County apparently heading for the Winchester/Romsey area. In the evening of that day a number of travellers occupied land at Cuppernham Lane, Romsey. Later, a large field at the village of Pitt, on the Winchester outskirts, and land surrounding the County Council’s incinerator
at Poles Lane, Otterbourne, were occupied.

4.4 Large numbers of vehicles congested the areas surrounding these sites and a number of violent incidents involving the Police occurred.

4.5 During the morning of Sunday 9 August 1992, the County Council’s incinerator buildings were entered and the administration buildings were set alight. The blaze was extinguished but not
before the building was destroyed.

4.6 This event precipitated a large-scale Police operation, involving some 200 officers from this and other Forces, culminating in the relatively peaceful recovery of the sites by the afternoon of 10 August 1992.

5. Costs

5.1 The additional cost to the Police of these operations was estimated to be £320,000. The estimated cost of the fire damage to the County Council’s incinerator buildings is £133,000 with a further £67,000 to repair damage resulting from vandalism.

6. Conclusion

6.1 These large gatherings are illegal and cause considerable disturbance to local communities. Substantial Police resources are necessary to minimise the disruption and to maintain public
order and to ensure compliance with the law. This was achieved on this occasion but only after considerable effort and the commitment of substantial resources.

RECOMMENDATION

1. That the report be noted.

http://www.hants.gov.uk/scrmxn/c14226.html