FRUSTRATED residents were left sleep-deprived and angry when an all-night party kept people awake more than a mile away.

Police fielded hundreds of calls as the large private party in Trenders Avenue, Rawreth, continued through Saturday night until late afternoon on Sunday.

Dance music was played from a caravan site opposite the football pitches for nearly 24 hours.

Barry Howe, 54, of Norman Crescent, said he was woken at about 5am by incredibly loud music.

He said: "It was the most boring, droning music I've heard.

"Eventually I went out at about 6.30am to try to find out where it was coming from - the whole area was surrounded by this noise. We found it coming from a field with loads of tents and caravans, and the sound was unbelievable.

"I was going to ask them to turn it off, but it was quite intimidating going down there."

Police went down to the site on Sunday morning and again in the afternoon.

Chief Insp John Walker, the Rochford district commander, said: "We started getting reports at 7am on Sunday of a party that went on all night.

"I think the concern from the residents was the noise would continue into the next day.

"Although we took reports of a rave and tickets being sold, there was no evidence of this. We called in at the party in the morning and the afternoon, when there were about 25 people there, including children."

The problem highlighted the lack of an out-of-hours number for Rochford District Coun-cil's environmental services department.

Richard Evans, head of environmental services, said there was an emergency answerphone service, but not one specifically for environmental health, as it was not deemed a priority for the area.

He said: "We are aware there were a number of calls to our emergency service on Sunday morning, but none on the Saturday evening to indicate any nuisance. We are investigating."

Chris Black, Lib Dem councillor for Downhall and Rawreth Ward, said: "I think this definitely needs to be looked into and maybe we need to bring an after-hours service for situations like this."