WORK to remove the kiosks in Rhyl will not take place until the council is satisfied that there will be no "detrimental impact to the animals at the SeaQuarium.”
Balfour Beatty were expected to start work to demolish the kiosks, on Rhyl Promenade, in July.
The beachfront shops, four of which are located by the Rhyl SeaQuarium, and one near SC2, closed on June 4.
A spokesperson for Denbighshire County Council said: “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.”
Earlier this month, the town’s 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 Denbighshire County Council (DCC), are "threatening their safety."
DCC said it has proposed suitable locations to temporarily re-home the seals (which it will pay for), and that it will compensate SeaQuarium if it can evidence any consequential losses.
Colette Macdonald, SeaQuarium director, said: “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.
"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.”
Denbighshire County Council said the buildings have to be removed in order to deliver the defences scheme. The Central Rhyl scheme is ongoing [the East Rhyl project has been completed].
If the kiosks are reinstated in the future, tenants will have first refusal, but this will be a "time limited offer".
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Tony Ward, Corporate Director for Economy and Environment at Denbighshire County Council, told the Journal earlier this year: "Unfortunately we are in a position where we are going to have remove the kiosks to deliver the flood defence scheme. The flood defence scheme is obviously essential and in order to protect the town, residents, businesses, and tourists and to ensure we have a sustainable town in future.
"Unfortunately with these [the kiosks] we can't keep them where they are because the new sea wall on the promenade is about one and a half metres higher than what we currently have and that is a problem for the kiosks, so they do need to be removed."
The kiosks have been in the town for more than 50 years.
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