CRIME levels at this year’s Big Chill festival were “significantly” down on last year, police have confirmed.

West Mercia Police say that the Big Chill festival, which took place at Eastnor Castle’s Deer Park, near Ledbury, over the weekend, went off without major incident.

Superintendent Charles Hill, police commander for Herefordshire, said there was “little reported crime and little impact on the local community” at this year’s event, although the exact number of crimes and arrests will not be confirmed until later this week.

Supt Hill, who led the operation to police the festival, said: “The Big Chill is one of the largest events to take place in Herefordshire, but despite tens of thousands of people gathering at the Eastnor Castle site, there was little reported crime and little impact on the local community. There were no serious incidents or serious crimes on site and, although we will not be able to confirm the exact numbers of crimes and arrests until later this week, it seems that they were satisfyingly low and we expect the numbers to be well down on last year.

“There were no reported incidents of anti-social behaviour off-site and our officers received positive feedback from local people who were reassured by the policing presence.

“Neither were there any traffic collisions and congestion has been kept to a minimum.

“We believe this is all due to the police working in partnership with Herefordshire Council, organisers Festival Republic and the local community.

“I would like to thank the public for their support and patience.”

Big Chill organisers were unavailble for comment yesterday. As we reported yesterday, about 40,000 music-lovers attended the eclectic music festival which saw arts and music from around the world. Rock legend Robert Plant performed on Sunday night before Mexican guitar duo Rodrigo y Gabriela brought the festival to a close.

On Saturday, the Deer Park Stage was headlined by US rapper Kanye West. Performers over the weekend also included Jessie J, the Chemical Brothers, Chipmunk, Neneh Cherry and Empire of the Sun.