THE battle against the yobs in Huddersfield is being stepped up.

A £250,000 plan is in the pipeline to tackle anti-social behaviour in Kirklees.

And police officers and council officials plan to take to the streets to tackle this issue - and the troublemakers - head on.

Kirklees Community Safety Partnership (KCSP) wants to expand the Kirklees Anti-Social Behaviour Unit and has asked for £131,668 in Neighbourhood Renewal funding to kick-start the project.

The money will be added to core funding of £120,384 already pledged by Kirklees Council, the Government and West Yorkshire Police.

The core funding will pay for activities across Kirklees, but the Neighbourhood Renewal cash will be used specifically in designated "neighbourhood renewal areas" like Primrose Hill, Newsome, Fartown, Golcar, Skelmanthorpe, and Dewsbury West.

The expansion would involve hiring four new police community support officers (CSOs), a case analyst, a council administration officer, an education worker, an environmental health officer, a Youth Offending Team worker and one youth worker.

The new staff will play a vital role in an all-out attack on anti-social behaviour by police, the Probation Service, the council, schools, the Youth Offending Team and the Kirklees Neighbourhood Housing nuisance harassment team.

The joint initiative aims at reintegration - helping youngsters who have been through court to stop offending - and enforcement, which involves securing anti-social behaviour orders against offenders.

But the main focus will be on early intervention.

Simon Massey, KCSP manager, said: "We want to tackle problems early.

"We will ask schools to report problems and our staff then go into schools to explain to pupils what anti-social behaviour actually means.

"We have a pilot project like this at Rawthorpe High and we want to replicate that in other areas. The extra staff will help us do this and will help us offer more diversionary activities for young people."

If the expansion scheme is a success, both the council and West Yorkshire Police will budget funding to continue it.