RADICAL steps are being considered to control a huge illegal car rally in Brighouse - but one councillor says they do not go far enough.

Up to 400 motorists meet at the Armytage Road industrial estate every Sunday.

Drivers show off their modified vehicles or speed in front of up to 1,000 spectators during the seven-hour meets.

Rather than stopping the event, police and Calderdale Council officials are expected to take the radical step of asking organisers to marshal the cruisers themselves.

They also want to hold a series of meetings with the people who arrange the gatherings.

But Independent Brighouse councillor Colin Stout said the police had been sending out the wrong message to the youngsters for the past two years and the rallying should be stopped.

A group of about 20 car cruisers were invited to the last meeting of Brighouse Police Community Forum.

Clr Stout said: "The police said the cruisers weren't particularly doing any harm and they weren't going to put police resources into it.

"That sent a message out: `Come on down and enjoy yourselves'."

Police say they want to manage the problem, rather than stop it.

That approach will disappoint business people on the estate.

Some have had premises vandalised during the weekly events.

Human excrement and piles of rubbish have also been left in the wake of the cruisers.

"They have moved them out of Kirklees, moved them from Bradford, moved them from Castleford and moved them from York. Where do we move them next?" asked Clr Stout.

"It's like a big open-air party. It can be intimidating for ordinary members of the public.

"There's cars parked on the pavement, hot dog vans, cars parked with ghetto blasters, smoke coming off back tyres. It's a sight to be seen.

"Everybody from the north of England seems to descend on Brighouse."

To get away from cruisers who are there to simply show off their vehicles, boy racers head up to the flat Highmoor Lane, reaching speeds of 80mph, say residents.

"It's a deadly mile," said Clr Stout.

Calderdale Council is refusing to install traffic-calming measures along Armytage Road at a cost of £25,000 because they say other residential areas are a higher priority.

But on Sunday, a meet spectator was knocked down by a Honda Prelude.

It is the second time a spectator has been injured at the event.

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