TAKEAWAYS are cooking up trouble in Huddersfield town centre, say police.

And officers revealed that drunken youngsters are still causing problems in the town centre at 6am and 7am, when people arrive for work at shops and offices.

Now police have taken the unprecedented step of opposing plans for a new fast food shop on a street that has already reached “saturation point”.

Rashid Ullah wants permission to turn the old Age Concern shop on Cross Church Street into a hot food takeaway.

Mr Ullah claims late-night outlets are being blamed for problems caused by pubs and clubs.

But the police says it is time to take a stand.

Sgt John McFadzean, of Huddersfield South Neighbourhood Policing Team, said takeaways were a “honeytrap” for trouble.

“People come out of pubs and clubs and gather at takeaways,” he added.

“The pubs and bars are well-policed but when door staff eject troublemakers from a pub, they often gather at the nearby takeaway to wait for those involved in the trouble to come out, and bother flares up again.

“That’s when problems escalate.

“We aren’t against new takeaways per se, but we have reached saturation point on this street.

“We have looked at the situation with takeaways and all the attendant problems and said: enough is enough.

“We have had complaints from people arriving for work to find drunken people still on the streets at 6am and 7am”.

Mr Ullah has already done battle with police over a bid for longer hours at the Chicken Hut takeaway on Cross Church Street, which he also owns.

Kirklees Council’s licensing panel rejected a bid for the takeaway to open until 5am every night after police said takeaway staff had been assaulted and customers had been responsible for anti-social behaviour.

There are currently seven takeaway outlets on Cross Church Street.

According to police statistics, between April 1 and July 2 this year, from 2am to 7am, there were 56 offences in Huddersfield town centre. More than half were on Cross Church Street.

In a letter to the council’s planning department, Gerry Gillespie, the police architectural liaison officer for Kirklees, said: “A major concern of West Yorkshire Police surrounds alcohol related crime and disorder that is occurring ever later into the night in Huddersfield town centre since the relaxation of licensing hours legislation.

“It is not a desire of the police to adversely affect late night takeaway businesses in the town centre. Clearly, however, a proportion of their trade, particularly later into the night, comes from customers who are alcohol fuelled to a greater or lesser extent.”

But Mr Ullah, who also runs Westgate News newsagents, said he believed another takeaway might actually help to ease problems.

He said: “We can’t see any concern with this.

“The takeaway we already have has not had any incidents in the last six or seven years.

“The problems are all to do with premises that are serving alcohol and we are being tarred with the same brush.

“If there’s another takeaway, that will help, because people will be able to get their food quicker and get away quicker.”

He added: “Huddersfield town centre is going through a recession and there are so many empty premises. We are just trying to survive.”

And Malcolm Sizer, of planning consultancy firm Malcolm Sizer Planning Ltd, said the council would be on dodgy ground if it refused the application on the police’s say-so.

In a letter to the council, Mr Sizer, who is representing Mr Ullah, said an application for a new takeaway on Cross Church Street had been granted as recently as December 2007.

He added: “The council as a local authority has not, in policy terms, considered whether it is now appropriate to consider refusing planning applications because of concerns about disorder and crime in marked contrast to the position it took less than two years ago. Further, the area where any such approach might apply has not been identified.”

The application is likely to be dealt with in October.