FURIOUS residents of a York suburb say they are prepared to "fight all the way" to stop a hot food take-away being built on their doorstep.

If a planning application is approved, the take-away will be built inside the former Mill Hill Newsagent, in Huntington Road.

People living nearby said they were concerned about extra traffic, noise and litter.

But the applicant, who wishes to be known only as Mr Ali, said he did not want to "fight" with the residents and was prepared to be flexible on issues like parking and opening hours.

He also said jobs could be created if his application was successful.

The residents said they had lodged more than 100 objections with City of York Council and were collecting signatures for a petition.

"If it was in a shopping precinct then fine, but this is right in the middle of a residential area," said dad-of-two Richard Tennant.

"It will be open until midnight on Fridays and Saturdays, but we've got two children asleep in here and don't want loud noise waking them up." Mum-of-four Maureen Mattinson is concerned for her children's safety.

She said: "Cars would be left outside when it was a paper shop, but it was only for a few minutes - but they'll be waiting outside for 20 minutes or more while their food gets cooked.

"The road is narrow enough without loads of cars blocking it even more and putting us all at risk of accidents."

Dorothy Paxman, who lives a few doors down from the shop, said:. "Hopefully there would be bins, but there are always people who just don't use them, so the litter could end up in our garden.

"And that's not all that could end up there. There are no toilets along here, so people who need to go after leaving the pub are just going to go in our gardens.

"We don't want this here - and we are ready to fight it all the way."

Mr Ali said: "I will talk to them, am prepared to change my opening hours or build a customer car park.

"There are other take-aways in the Huntington area that run happily with no problems. Why should this be any different?

"Let's get the place going so the residents and me can work together. They will see it is properly and professionally run.

"What I always say is never judge a book by its cover," he added.

A City of York Council spokeswoman said the issue was due to be discussed on September 25 when a report will be presented to councillors, she said.

"When the planning committee meets all views will be taken into account before a decision is made," she added.

Updated: 12:03 Wednesday, September 12, 2001