AN ATTRACTION currently seeking temporary locations for all its seals has criticised Denbighshire County Council for the delay in knocking down kiosks in Rhyl stating - "they could have been open for summer".

Last week, the local authority said that work to remove the kiosks on Rhyl Promenade will not take place until the council is satisfied there will be no "detrimental impact to the animals at the SeaQuarium.”

The beachfront buildings closed on July 4 and Balfour Beatty was set to start work to remove them in July. 

Rhyl SeaQuarium have hit out saying that this delay means the kiosks could have been open for the summer. Leaseholders could have enjoyed another 80 plus days of tradiing.

Colette Macdonald, SeaQuarium director, said: "The inevitable delay means that tourism could be impacted for longer than necessary and the kiosks could have been open for the summer, helping to boost economic growth across Rhyl.” 

Earlier in August, the SeaQuarium said it was considering re-homing its seals. They claim that drilling noise and vibrations from the coastal defence works, being carried out by Balfour Beatty on behalf of DCC, are "threatening their safety."

DCC said it has proposed suitable locations to temporarily re-home the seals (which it will pay for), and it will compensate SeaQuarium if it can evidence any consequential losses.

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Colette added: “Denbighshire County Council have finally accepted what our experts have said for two years: that the seals have to be moved to a temporary location to avoid injury. 

"We have had to take legal action to oppose the imposition by the council of simply monitoring the effect of noise and vibration on the seals before stopping the works. We claimed this action was perverse, and always ran the risk of distress or injury to the animals. 

“We are currently seeking suitable temporary locations for all of the Seals and believe this will take at least until the end of 2023 before they are moved.

"The cost of disrupting and delaying the construction could have been avoided if they had engaged with us earlier."

A spokesperson from Denbighshire County Council said last week, in connection to the kiosk demolition delay: "There is currently no firm date for the demolition of the kiosks on the Rhyl promenade, however we intend for this to take place as soon as possible and as soon as the council is satisfied that there will be no detrimental impact to the animals at the SeaQuarium.”