VILLAGERS say they were kept awake all weekend by a three-day “rave” at a rural business park.
Dozens of people living in East and West Dean, Lockerly and West Tytherley saw their hopes of a peaceful weekend dashed as loud dance music blared out from the bash at Dean Hill Park for three nights.
Frustrated residents called the council and the police in a bid to get the party shut down.
Police attended twice but said it was “a private party” and no offence had been committed.
Residents reported that the event started on Friday night and ended between 2am and 4am on Monday.
West Dean resident Samantha Golden said: “How can the land owners call this a private event when the marquee is one that you would expect to see at Glastonbury?
“There are hundreds of tents and hundreds if not thousands of revellers. What a ridiculous situation that two villages have not slept for what will be three nights because of one family and there’s nothing that the police can do about it.”
Dean Hill Park is a former MoD munitions store on a “highly secure site” on the county border.
Wiltshire Police, Hampshire Police, Wiltshire Council and Test Valley Borough Council were all called about the party, but none had the power to shut it down.
Commenting on Facebook, one angry villager said: “I don’t mind one evening but three days and nights non-stop! Plus the fireworks takes the p***! Proves Mr Parry has no respect for us villagers.”
Wiltshire Police were called about loud music at 3.10am on Saturday.
“Patrols were carried out in the area before 5am and the area was all closed up and music off. We received another call at 7.30pm the same day reporting loud music at the site. Officers attended and this was a private function, no alcohol being served. Music was turned down and all in order. No offences committed.”
Test Valley borough councillor in charge of environmental health, Phil Bundy, said the council had received “a number of complaints about loud music coming from the vicinity of Dean Hill” over the weekend and was investigating alongside Wiltshire Council.
The owner of a nearby glamping site, who asked not to be named, said her guests were left unable to sleep and “very distressed” by the music.
Neither Dean Hill Park owner Richard Parry nor his son James who manages the site responded to requests for comment.
An employee at the Parry office said it was a “private family birthday party” and certainly not a “rave”.
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