County Antrim rave distresses cattle and upsets some church goers as DUP man calls for such events to be curtailed

Lisburn and Castlereagh City Council (LCCC) heard that the recent large outdoor music gathering had resulted in numerous complaints being made.

And with more raves apparently being planned, one DUP councillor has asked what can be done to curtail such events.

Speaking at last week’s council meeting DUP Alderman, James Tinsley said: “There was a rave over Saturday night just outside Stoneyford from 10pm to 8am. The DJ could be heard right through the night.

“I was contacted by a number of local farmers about the high volume noise level of the music.

“They had told me the cattle were distressed and even one that was calving lost the calf. This was down to music blaring through the night in a rural area.

“There were also complaints in the village of people who were, let’s say not in such a good state, wondering around as the local people were on their way to church on the Sunday morning.”

He added: “What I want to know is, if we catch wind of these raves happening again, what can we reasonably do from a council perspective?

“There seems to be adverts for these raves popping up right up to Hallowe’en. Farmers are afraid for their cattle.”

A council officer responded: “We have had several complaints and have been in contact with the landowner, who has given assurances not to have any more raves.“There does seem to be more of these type of raves planned in Northern Ireland as advertised on social media.“If there is going to be a number of these raves we can look in to trying to get them stopped with prior notice warnings. If there is loud music at 3am happening, it would be a matter for the police.”