THOUSANDS of music fans descended on Daresbury over the August bank holiday weekend for Creamfields 2014.

Once again Cheshire Police had worked closely with the event organisers to ensure that it ran safely and smoothly.

In total nearly 70,000 fans from across the country attended this year′s event in Daresbury, with the majority of those attending camping on-site.

Inspector Stewart Sheer, who has led the planning of the policing of the event said: "This year was the ninth time that the music festival has taken place in Cheshire, and every year the event is getting bigger.

"I would specifically like to thank all of the officers who policed this year′s festival for their continued hard work, along with the officers and staff who have assisted with the planning of this year′s event.

"Our main aim was to ensure the safety of festival goers and to minimize any disruption caused to local residents."

A dedicated team involving police officers and police staff have been involved in the planning process for months.

Plans were put in place to deal with everything from security and traffic, to noise and any issues in the local community.

The plans were put in place in conjunction with the organisers, the two local authorities and other agencies as well as in consultation with local residents.

The policing operation started on Friday with the majority of festival goers heading to the site on Friday morning.

Officers were assigned a variety of roles throughout the course of the weekend. Within the site officers carried out a variety of tasks − including dealing with any incidents of crime and disorder, regularly patrolling the campsite to provide reassurance to campers.

Externally, officers were involved with traffic management and policing in the local community that surrounds the site.

Local policing inspectors worked throughout the course of the weekend with a team of dedicated community officers to deal with any issues that arose and to minimise any disruption to local residents.

A total of 66 people were arrested over the weekend. Of those arrested, 49 were drugs related offences and the other 17 included assault and disqualified driving, along with a variety of other offences.

Festival goers were once again warned before the event that positive action would be taken against anyone caught carrying drugs or weapons.

Searches were a condition of entry and festival goers were asked to place any drugs or weapons in the bins provided at the entrance to the event arena.

Anyone found with drugs, having not placed them into the bins, were dealt with by police.

A total of 42 people received a caution on site − all of which related to possession of a controlled drug.

Due to the festival being a three-day event with camping festival goers were once again urged to keep their valuables safe and use the secure cloakroom on site, which was provided by the event organiser.

There were 26 thefts reported to police during the event − 16 thefts from tents and 10 other thefts.

Cheshire Police once again worked closely with the organisers of the music festival to minimise the impact of the event on local residents.

Over the weekend, local policing inspectors Sarah Heath, of Warrington South NPU, and Inspector Barry Brown, of Runcorn NPU, were on hand with a team of dedicated community officers to deal with any issues arising from the event.

Any policing issues or concerns that were raised were fed back to the community beat managers within the local villages.

Inspector Sarah Heath said: "The team of dedicated community officers responded to any calls from local residents and visited anyone who had any issues or concerns.

"I would once again like to thank members of the community for their co-operation and understanding prior to and throughout the event."