Nick Merriman, the convenor of the Museum Association’s (MA) ethics committee, has met with a representative of Bolton Council to raise concerns about its decision to sell 41 items from its collections without a public consultation.

The council’s executive committee voted in December to dispose of the works and is now tendering for auction houses. But the council will not reveal which pieces have been identified for sale, or their value.

Merriman said that although public consultation is not a prerequisite in the MA code of ethics, but it is implicit in paragraph 6.13 in relation to the risk of damaging public confidence.

“As a result, we ask any organisation that is thinking about a financially motivated sale to tell us about any public consultation it has undertaken in the pro-forma we send them,” he said.

Merriman met with Stephanie Crossley, assistant director of adult and community services at Bolton Council, last month when she outlined the context of the proposed sale and the steps that were being taken to ensure that the sale was within the guidance in the MA’s code of ethics.

Merriman said she was “helpful and open” in her response to the concerns raised.

“I shall now be making a report to the ethics committee, which will then formulate a view as to whether the sale can be deemed ethical,” he added.

A council spokeswoman said it was unable to disclose any of the 41 items on the list, as it was “commercially sensitive information”.

The council plans to put any money raised towards relocating the museum’s stores.