Don’t worry about long posts, this site is for quality info and we can’t afford to dumb things down when peoples freedom and investments are at stake
some friends of mine may use the TENs system later in the year but they are so new that it hasn’t been used yet.
Given that your event is tolerated, very well organised and low-impact (and that you have discussed your plans in some details on a public board in a post linking back to an HM Government site!) I would suggest you do things by the proper channels. This is a perfect scenario for the TENS and although its hard being a guinea pig its better than being the dead mouse with its back broken in the trap..
There is a risk the cops or council may refuse the TENS (they are the only body who can, nimbys don’t get a say which is good!) but you have a right of appeal. It would be madness for the council to turn this event down as the alternative is less organised, less responsible people doing illegal events and causing trouble to the locals.
Even a “private” event can be stopped on all sorts of rules now – anti social behaviour, suspicion of drugs being used, risk of violence occuring etc, in the same way they stop teenagers’ parties which get out of hand.
If the worst comes to the worst better that if a TENS is turned down you can let everyone down gently some time before rather than spending time, effort and money putting on an event that could get busted, could get your rig confiscated (there is no “habeas corpus” law on property so cops can and do hold it for as long as they want to keep it out of use!) and your people could end up in Court for PEL violations
If people are busted for PEL violations their charge is now also arrestable (law was changed 2006-01-01 to make all crime arrestable) and it will go on their criminal record as a crime of dishonesty against the public purse (unlike CJA violations which are a political crime) which definitely will affect job prospects!
Its of course up to you how much risk you take but this looks like an event many people are putting a lot of effort into at it would be a shame to let things go bad. You can put on an unlicensed party, cops can say “you have 30 minutes to clear up” but when you do there are riot cops at the exit point and your rig is confiscated. This happened recently to a crew in the East Anglia region.
In the current climate I won’t put on a spin of “mindless optimism” and say “try and beat the babylon system” – We’ve had 16 years of unlicensed raves and grudingly tolerated clubs/licensed events – which have unfortunately left Britain with a legacy of drug addiction and criminality as well as an innovative electronic music scene.
As our scene hasn’t managed to put across its positive side well enough they are throwing everything they can at us to stop the unlicensed events. (licensed events can be monitored and fees demanded to pay for costs to the NHS and other services) There is a level of surveillance and anti-rave activity in place which I have never seen before (like the riot cops being used regularly now to stop events and more and more rig confiscations!) ,the rest of society is finally deciding enough is enough.
