FEARS have been raised that the town centre could be facing a flooding disaster.

Councillor Ibrar Khan claims that unless action is taken to reduce the risk, the town centre will flood if the River Roch bursts its banks.

He believes that flood defences are inadequate and fears that any measures to improve the situation in Littleborough could divert the rainfall along alternative routes into the town centre.

He’s worried the consequences would include residents being evacuated, homes being destroyed and businesses grinding to a halt.

He said: "I’m extremely worried. We need new flood defences but I don’t want these to have an impact for other people in Rochdale. Littleborough was badly hit in January and I fear any new defences would divert the water. It would find alternative routes into the centre of Rochdale. I’m scared that houses will flood."

A sign of what could happen was seen in January when floods caused widespread chaos in the town centre.

More than a third of the average monthly rainfall fell in just 12 hours and the River Roch burst its banks.

Rochdale MP Paul Rowen is campaigning for action and vowed that the implications of any new measures will be fully investigated.

He said: "We are currently reviewing the emergency tipping points and developing our emergency contingency plans for the whole of Rochdale. In all this process we will look at the net effects of any work we carry out."

John Patterson, executive director at Rochdale Council, said: "The flood alleviation scheme that the Environment Agency finished in 2005 looked at the risks in both Rochdale and Littleborough together, not individually, and dealt with those risks appropriately.

"This included reducing the risk of flooding for a vast number of properties in both areas."

Russell Stead, from the Environment Agency, added: "We are assessing whether river bed levels in the River Spodden and the River Roch have increased lately.

"We are carrying out some minor repairs to defences in the Littleborough and Rochdale areas after the high river flows in January. The existing defences greatly reduced the amount of flooding that could have happened at that time.

"Although we don’t have any plans to improve these defences in the short term we are assessing the standard of the area’s flood protection as part of our long-term strategy."

Richard Macilwaine, Environment Agency flood risk manager, said: "We completed the River Roch flood alleviation scheme in 2005. The works that make up the scheme were designed as a whole to ensure that there is a consistent standard of flood protection from the River Roch within both Littleborough and Rochdale.

"Work was also carried out on the River Roch’s tributaries to protect areas at risk from Buckley Brook, Stanney Brook, Featherstall Brook, Ealees Brook, Town House Brook and Green Vale Brook.

"We will be working with local partners to see if there is anything further that can be done to reduce the impact of any future floods."