THE credentials of Radcliffe Market’s new operator have been called into question.

Speaking at tonight’s budget meeting of Bury Council’s Overview and Scrutiny Committee, Cllr Bob Caserta said he had doubts over the suitability of Impact Management Services (IMS).

Last week Bury Council announced IMS had been selected from a field of eight potential businesses to take on the day-to-day running of the market.

The authority will not receive rent from IMS but instead will receive a share of operating surpluses once costs have been covered.

But Cllr Caserta, chair of the committee, said the firm’s accounts did not mark it out as ‘a company of substance’.

The Conservative, who represents Pilkington Park, continued: “I can’t see what they do or what their expertise is, and what worries me is that the council says that 'hopefully' this will work.

“We have made a £1m capital investment in the building, I can’t see that IMS is going to eat into and give us any returns on that, we might get some revenue.

“I’m just wondering if they’re the right people and if we are going out of the frying pan and into the fire?”

But Cllr Eamonn O’Brien, cabinet member for finance and housing, defended IMS, insisting they had ‘a lot to offer’ including a new diversity of stalls which would draw people to the market in the evenings as well as the daytime.

And on the reasoning behind the decision he added: “As I see it, it’s a target in our budget that’s not being met. We have to look at ourselves – do we have the capacity, skills and focus to deliver what should be a really great offer in a part of Radcliffe?

"What we have done is used a bit of capital to improve the look and shape of the place, but what we have not done successfully is produce a market that generates a good enough source of income and a good offer for the people of Radcliffe."

And he said that he considered the strategy to be a ‘low-risk approach’ and that IMS had been brought in to bring something different to the market.

Cllr O'Brien, who represents St Mary's, added: “They will probably have a much better chance of delivering a better market place than we can. We have to be honest about that.”

He also said that a monitoring process would be put in place and, if the arrangement was not working well, the council would have look at why and what action could be taken.

“It’s not something we have done lightly or ‘off the hoof’, there’s been a rigorous tendering process,” he said.