WILTSHIRE'S chief constable Elizabeth Neville is being asked to explain why her officers failed to stop an illegal rave in Savernake Forest Three weeks ago that kept families awake.

Sir Nigel Thompson, the vice-chairman of Mildenhall Parish Council said many residents in Mildenhall and Stitchcombe are demanding to know why police did nothing.

Police sent officers to Savernake Forest after receiving dozens of complaints about the loud music from the rave on ay 3.

Instead of ordering the organisers to stop the event, as many of the complainants had expected, police took no action to prevent a second night of misery for families who could not sleep through the amplified sound from seven stages that had been set up in the forest.

Lord Cardigan, whose family owns the forest has already asked MP Michael Ancram to ask Miss Neville why police allowed the illegal rave to proceed and took no action against the organisers.

The duty police commander on the weekend of the rave, Chief Supt Mandy Evely, told the Gazette she decided to let the event go ahead to avoid a possible confrontation with the revellers in the forest.

She said her main concern was to avoid any injuries either to her officers or to members of the public, including those attending the rave, that would have been inevitable in a confrontation.

She said her softly-softly tactics paid off and the event ended peaceably with just one arrest for a drugs-related offence.

Civil engineer Sir Nigel was knighted in last year's New Years Honours for his services advising on the rebuilding of war-torn Kosovo and Yugoslavia.

In his letter to the chief constable he said: "The single biggest issue at the annual parish meeting was the severe criticism of and the disappointment shown in the performance of Wiltshire police in not bringing to an end the illegal rave in Savernake Forest.

"The noise throughout Saturday night, Sunday and Sunday night was horrific in Stitchcombe and Mildenhall."

He asked the chief constable to explain why a small snatch team of officers did not enter the rave site and confiscate the generators as the law permits and why revellers' cars parked on the A4 were not impounded.

He said: "We agree with Lord Cardigan that by failing to act the police will have indicated that Savernake is a soft touch and it will definitely happen again. This is unacceptable. It is not the role of the police to protect lawbreakers."