Captive seal and penguin pool postponed
16 March 2006
Green city councillors welcomed yesterday’s decision by Brighton and Hove City Council (Wednesday 15 March) to defer granting planning approval for a captive seal and penguin pool at Brighton’s Sea Life Centre.The Council’s Planning Committee postponed a decision on the application by the Marine Parade aquarium until more information has been provided by council officers and the applicant, which may take some time.
Representatives from the local animal rights community, some of whom remember the protest against the dolphinarium at the site, demonstrated outside and presented a petition with 1,000 signatures to the Chair of the Planning Committee.
Green Councillor Georgia Wrighton said: “We’re really pleased the Planning Committee deferred this totally inappropriate planning application to allow officers to provide them with more information.
"I'm also pleased that so many questions and points were raised by councillors on animal welfare issues."
She added: “This is simply the wrong place for seals and penguins. They would live out their days in confinement, in a rather dank semi-basement in the middle of one of the region's busiest tourist hotspots.
“The Marine Parade junction is a highly urban area, characterised by lots of traffic, people and noise, not just during the summer months and bank holidays, but throughout the year. The discussion also raises the question as to which department in the Council ensures that accommodation is 'fit for purpose' - providing acceptable accommodation for the animals?
“The environmental health regime seems sorely lacking in any ability to get to the heart of this and establish whether the ‘principle’ of this site is acceptable. It seems more about regulation and 'tweaking', which is unfortunately all the councillors are left with, other than looking to the possibility of protests blocking the highway!
“How can local people articulate and hope to influence decisions on developments like this in their area when the planning and licensing regime sets such a low bench mark for standards of animal accommodation?”
Notes to editors:
For more information please contact Geoffrey Bowden Brighton and Hove Green Party Press Officer 07958 682 683.[ENDS]
