PEOPLE staying in tents at a “homeless campsite” on Rhyl’s promenade have “moved on of their own accord”, Denbighshire County Council has said.

The Journal reported in July and August that tents were set up by the town’s seafront, near the War Memorial Garden and by the now-closed SeaQuarium attraction.

A council spokesperson they have now moved “back to their local area”, after a resident contacted the Journal saying they saw them leaving the promenade, and the site being “emptied”, last week.

It is understood that there were approximately four tents set up prior to the occupiers moving on.

The resident told the Journal: “The whole site has been emptied. I saw them walking off before the council cleared it up.

“As soon as one couple moved on, it seemed the rest of them had to.

“This has been going on for about two to three months. I really feel for them. They haven’t had a roof over their head.”

A council spokesperson said: “The individuals in tents on the promenade in Rhyl moved on of their own accord back to their local area, where they will be able to access appropriate support from their own local authority and support services.

“Anyone presenting as homeless in Denbighshire has no need to be sleeping on the streets.

“However, where the individual or family has no local connection to Denbighshire, every effort will be made to locate them back to their local area as long as it is safe to do so.”

In March, a similar “homeless campsite” was set up in the area, meanwhile, which was said to have been “growing for the last couple of weeks”.

A freedom of information request in May revealed that the council spent the entirety of the £7,356,535.02 it received from Welsh Government’s Housing Support Grant in the 2023-24 period.

This included more than £1.5m spent on temporary supported accommodation and in excess of £3m on “floating support”.

The council spokesperson added: “Everyone with a local connection to Denbighshire who finds themselves homeless will be supported into temporary emergency accommodation be that B&B style accommodation or a leased property.

“Where an individual or family can no longer stay within their allocated accommodation, we will always move people into alternative provision, we do not turn people out onto the streets.

“The service has been redesigned over the last two to three years to provide wraparound support to individuals and families to address the circumstances associated with their presentation into homelessness.

“This includes access to specialist services and ongoing support to find a more permanent housing solution and stop cyclical homelessness, in line with Welsh Government’s commitment that homelessness is rare, brief and unrepeated.”