PERMANENT defences to prevent Radcliffe and Redvales from flooding will be implemented by 2021, residents have been told.

In a meeting, held by the Radcliffe Residents Flood Action Group last Thursday, flooding victims were told that work on building the defences will begin in 2019.

In a bid to prevent repeat of the Boxing Day disaster, defences— at a cost of £15m —would be built starting at Warth Bridge, along to Newbank Garden Centre and down to Pioneer Mill.

Temporary defences are also in storage, earmarked only for Radcliffe and paid for by Government funding of £12.5m, which will, according to the Government, "quadruple" the amount of flood barriers in England.

In addition, £2.5bn has been committed by the government to protect families, homes and businesses from flooding by 2021.

The information revealed at the meeting, which was held at the Bridge Methodist Church, comes after discussions with Bury Council, the Environment Agency, United Utilities and other involved organisations.

A council spokesman said that the plans are still being reviewed and that their final extent and cost are not yet known.

Joyce Walkden, spokesman for the action group and a resident of flood-hit Parkside Close, said: "Radcliffe will have temporary flood defences which will be brought out as soon as there is any hint that there could be flooding.

"We are told that they are huge concave metal barriers that are clicked in to place."

The temporary defences, when needed, will be situated in the Metrolink underpass, Morris Street and Close Park to protect the nearby estate.

However residents raised concerns about the storage of the defences, questioning why they were in Sale, and called for a "semi-permanent" fixture to be installed in waiting for the permanent defences.

One resident said she had seen the defences and they were only "three foot tall", which she said "would not protect them", while another resident asked why could they not be stored in Bradley Fold instead.

In the meeting, it was also said that Bury as a whole currently has no formal man-made flood defences.

Bury Council has also reduced its gully wagon maintenance from four vans to one for the entire borough.

Despite the impending plans, residents said they are "going to live with anxiety until the permanent flood defences are built".

Mother-of-three, Deborah Martin, aged 35, who lives in Ripon Close said: "I am very concerned.

"Every time it rains and it is heavy we are worried and its not just myself, all of us are.

"We are worried sick that it is going to flood again."

Lindsay Grayson, aged 33, of Selby Close, said it had become "a fear" to go to sleep when it rains, because and her family are so worried.

The scheme that will be built for the Radcliffe and Redvales area is, according to the Environment Agency, based on a one in 25 year chance, that the flooding will re-occur.

One resident, of Parkside Close, she said she did not think Radcliffe would be flooded again to the same degree as it was in December.