POLICE are investigating an illegal rave that attracted over 200 people to woodland near Soudley over the weekend.

Gloucestershire Police started to receive complaints just before midnight on Saturday night that a rave was taking place at Staple Edge, but the force were unable to shut it down for another 12 hours.

It is not the first time Soudley residents have been affected by the noise emanating from local woodland

For it was in May 2016 when local residents were kept awake with the loud music playing over the weekend.

However Gloucestershire police said at the time that only received three complaints had been made to them.

The police inspector for the Forest of Dean stated that had the force received calls as soon as the event started the officers could have shut it down a lot earlier.

On this occasion local residents took the inspector’s advice and started contacting Gloucestershire Police as the rave started at around 11.40pm.

A spokeswoman for Gloucestershire Police said the force was grateful for the public’s intervention and added: "We monitored the rave situation closely with officers taking a proportionate response in terms of any threat, harm or risk presented to local communities.

"Our investigations ensured we identified any vulnerabilities and we engaged with local callers and the parish council to reassure the community.

"We undertook intervention activity to try and prevent further people from going to the event, while monitoring the site so it closed as soon as practicable.

"We had to consider officer safety based on the resources available when faced with a crowd of approximately 200 people in a remote location and the opportunity to close the event peacefully.

"Without prior knowledge of such an event happening, it is always difficult to balance resourcing to risk and community impact."

The rave was eventually silenced by police at 12.45pm on Sunday.