THE owners of shops and businesses in Radcliffe which are regularly swamped with raw sewage during bad weather are battling to keep their livelihoods afloat.

Traders in Ainsworth Road and Water Street have already forked out thousands of pounds to clean up flooding damage, despite pleas for action from Bury Council.

Shop and business bosses claim the council has turned up its nose at their plight, and some say they have been told the problem may not be tackled until 2006.

"If this happened outside Bury Town Hall or in Bury town centre all the stops would be pulled out," said Mr Chris Turner who owns a DIY store on Ainsworth Road. "The situation is totally unacceptable."

Although the flooding, up to 4ft deep in places, has been going on for the past five years, it is getting worse with each fresh downpour . Now traders have decided "enough is enough" because of the crippling effects on their businesses.

"We have given one petition to Bury Council demanding proper drainage and this week we will be handing in another letter asking for a reduction in our rates until the problem is dealt with," said Mr Robert Wilkinson. He was forced to move 1,200 costumes from his shop on Water Street after a flood hit earlier this month. He has also had to close the shop for five weeks while £30,000 of repair work is carried out.

"I tried to use the shutters as a barricade and put down sand bags supplied by the council, but they just dissolved as the sewage came rushing through," said Mr Wilkinson spends thousands of pounds on dry cleaning his costumes after each flood.

Although Mrs Stella Scott opened the Sunrise tanning shop only two months ago, she has already experienced flooding.

"Fortunately I was standing at the door and saw the water rushing down the road so I had time to grab towels and plastic bags and bank them against the door.

"I dread to think what would have happened if I'd have been in the back and the water had got into the shop and reached the electrics."

Mrs Scott added: "It's ridiculous. The council talks about trying to attract new businesses into Radcliffe but who would want to come here when this happens?"

A couple of doors down Water Street at The Colliers Pub, landlord Keith Bowers has been forced to take drastic action.

"Every time there was a deluge the cellar filled with about 4ft of water. Barrels and bottles floated around and I've had to stop selling traditional ales because the floods unsettled them."

On three occasions he had to call out the fire brigade who charged £480 a time to pump out the cellar.

"In the end I got the brewery to install a sump pump. It's made things slightly better but we still get about six inches of flooding."

Mrs Isobel Helliwell, who owns Radcliffe Pet Store, is so sick of damage to her shop that she has given up repairing the property after each flood, and Paula Henry, owner of Chaps Barbers Shop, complains that when the flooding is at its worst customers cannot get in or out.

Mrs Ann Gregory, who runs a sandwich shop on Ainsworth Road, has had to store stock on a higher level to protect it from the flood waters and the lino on the floor is so saturated it has started curling upwards.

The proprietor of Ainsworth Road Garage, Mr Hedley Hill, has to regularly sweep up used tampons and shovel up other sewage from his garage forecourt before steam cleaning his premises.

"The force of the flooding is so great that the sewage lifts up a manhole cover in the middle of the road which I then have to replace," he said.

A spokesman for Bury Council said that the ultimate responsibility lay with United Utilities.

He said: "We are aware of problems in the area and certainly the system has difficulty coping with large volumes of water when it rains heavily over a short period.

"We will investigate the situation although any final decision rests with United Utilities, who have overall responsibility.

"They are also aware of the situation and improvements are planned but these will not take place until a later date."