A LEADING critic of Bournemouth council’s outsourcing deal with Mouchel has warned of a need for a robust “exit strategy”.

The troubled company briefly entered administration at the weekend but was swiftly taken over by a new company called MRBL Ltd, owned by Mouchel Group plc’s lenders and management.

Cllr Ben Grower , leader of the Labour group, said the council could take some comfort from the fact that Mouchel’s banks clearly thought they could turn the company around.

But he said the council needed to look carefully at its exit strategy so it could bring staff back in-house if the company was sold on to new owners.

“At least there are now static owners of the company, presumably the banks would not have taken it over unless they thought they could make a go of it,” he said.

“But it doesn’t distract from the fact that many of us were against it in the first place and we shouldn’t be in this position.

“The cabinet were warned before going into this deal.

“I don’t think there’s any immediate danger to the council.

“The banks are not taking over without some confidence that they are going to get their money back but they won’t want to hold on to it indefinitely.

“Obviously they will want to sell it on at some point.

“I think that we will be pressing the council to have arrangements in hand to bring services back if matters get worse.”

Council leader Cllr John Beesley has repeatedly stressed the council has always had plans in place to cover all eventualities, including bringing services and staff back to the council if necessary.

He said the takeover by MRBL was “good news” as it removed the uncertainty surrounding the future of the company but said the authority would continue to monitor the contract closely. “It essentially remains business as usual for our incremental partnership and our relationship with MRBL remains strong as they continue to deliver,” he said.

“Already, the partnership has created 85 jobs in the local economy and an investment of £7.71million into the Bournemouth contract.”