|
The law on raves was tightened up by the Anti Social Behaviour Act 2003. Initial controls on raves were in the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994, which gave the police power to stop unlicensed raves, seize sound equipment, and to direct people away from the site. In large part, those measures were effective for most of the 1990s, although in recent years there has been a dramatic rise in the number of unlicensed raves.
The 1994 Act has been amended by s58 Anti-Social Behaviour Act 2003 as from January 2004. In the 1994 Act, ‘rave’ was defined as ‘an unlicensed gathering on land in the open air of 100 or more persons at which amplified music is played… during the night and… is likely to cause serious distress to the inhabitants of the locality’. Under the revised laws, the words ‘open air’ have been removed, and thus it is no longer possible to avoid the law by setting up in a barn (plus, of course, the new provisions will also catch ‘squat’ and ‘warehouse’ parties). In addition, the previous requirement for 100 people is now reduced to only 20 (with the smaller number making it commercially unviable to organise a rave). Plus, it is now an offence to attend another unlicensed rave within 24 hours of being directed to leave the first rave; this, in effect, removes the well-established tactic of simply setting up the rave at another location. Full details in [2004] NLJ 606.
|
|
June 2004 |
