COMMUNITY action has seen the organiser of a series of illegal all-night raves on Exmoor banned from entering the national park or face being arrested.

Residents in the Luxborough area worked with the West Somerset neighbourhood police team and Forestry England which owns Kennisham Wood where the music events were being held.

The woods saw two raves take place in June and July of this year resulting in anti-social behaviour causing issues for the local community.

Now, the multi-agency team has successfully served a Community Protection Warning (CPW) on one of the organisers of the events.

At the same time, Forestry England invested in improved security around the woodland to deter further trespass, and the police team secured funding for extra patrols in the area during the summer.

A number of revellers who had attended the raves were also sent warning letters thanks to evidence provided by the High Sheriff of Somerset Jennifer Duke, who is a Luxborough parish councillor and church warden.

The CPW effectively bans the rave organiser from entering Exmoor National Park for 12 months and if it was breached, it can be escalated to a Community Protection Notice and lead to their arrest.

Police Sgt Max Priestley said: “Issuing the CPW with the support of our anti-social behaviour team is a great success, made possible by our collaborative response to these illegal events.

“Jennifer and local residents like her are our essential eyes and ears to provide evidence after events and, ideally, intelligence before they happen so we can stop them before they start.

“The public can help us by calling 101 and alerting us to anything suspicious they see, such as an abnormally large number of vehicles in a rural area or speakers being unloaded.

“This is unlikely to be the last time we deal with an illegal rave, but with support from communities we can police them as effectively as possible.”

Forestry England forester John Ebsary said: “As a rural land manager we are left with the fall-out from illegal music events far too often.

“They cause misery for our neighbours and immeasurable harm to wildlife and forest habitats.

“We recently had to close a forest in Cornwall for three months to allow human excrement to degrade following an illegal rave which kept local residents awake for three days.

“It is selfish and unacceptable.

“I am delighted with the outcome of our partnership effort in response to illegal events at Kennisham and look forward to continuing strong relationships with our brilliant police team and nearby communities.”