The Museum Association (MA) is concerned that Bolton Council may sell some of the borough’s museum pieces to generate funds.

The council aims to raise £300,000 from the sale to go towards savings of £4.7m across the adults services department, but has assured MA that the museum service will not undertake any action in breach of the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council’s (MLA) accreditation guidelines.

John Rutherford, the council’s director of adults services, said: “This is not about selling the family silver. It is literally about things that are small and not accessible to the public, things that are stored and often not in good condition.

“If it is only achievable by losing our accreditation, then we will end the process and look to other ways of making the shortfall. We have seen what happened to Bury and we are not going to go down that route.”

Bury Museum and Gallery no longer receives funding from The Art Fund, was barred from MA and removed from MLA’s accreditation scheme following the sale of Lowry’s A Riverbank by the council to address a budget shortfall.

MA adviser Caitlin Griffiths added: “We are very pleased that the council has listened to the advice of its museum professionals and said it will not do anything to imperil its status in the museum world.

“We are naturally concerned about reports coming out of Bolton about the decision to look into generating funds by selling off items in the collection. However, we are hoping to discuss this with Bolton as soon as possible.” Details: www.museumsassociation.org