PLANS to house penguins, crocodiles and seals in a new enclosure at Southend’s Sealife Adventure centre have been scrapped.

The scheme would also have included a shark pool.

Sealife was given the go-ahead to extend its aquarium in Eastern Esplanade, but said it was pulling the plug on the proposals after a dispute with Southend Council over rent.

Sealife’s owners, the Stockvale Group, won approval last summer for the scheme after removing controversial coloured cladding from the design.

The new design had pitched roofs and light blue cladding, similar to the existing building.

But the centre issued a statement on its Facebook page explaining the scheme would not go ahead.

The statement said: “It is with regret that we have to tell you that our ongoing attempts to bring the exciting Sealife Adventure extension to Southend has hit a brick wall.

We have done all we can to find a way forward. Sadly, we could not agree terms with Southend Borough Council.

“We would like to apologise to our many thousands of annual pass holders in particular, and all our regular customers, in general, who were expecting to be able to use this proposed, unique attraction in the near future. Despite this setback, we will continue to develop our aquarium, in our usual fashion.”

The extension was set to go over an informal staff car park to the east. Council leader Ron Woodley said: “Southend is open for business and absolutely supports its local business community and economy.

“However, we must balance this with our duty to the local taxpayer to agree a fair commercial rent for what would be an expanded facility and business on prime, council-owned land.

“This would be true in any commercial negotiations with any private company. In the current economic climate and in the face of continued Government cuts, this is more important than ever.

“Negotiations over this issue with the Stockvale Group have not yet led to agreement. We have made two separate offers as the landowner, both of which have been rejected. We, of course, respect Stockvale’s commercial decision at this time.

“However, the door always remains open for further discussions, and we will continue to support the Sealife Adventure enhancements, if mutually acceptable terms can be agreed.”

A SeaLife spokesperson said: “We had planning permission six months ago, which made us think the council wanted us to build the extension.

“Alas, this was not the case – we hit a brick wall regarding terms. The council made it unviable for us to precede, simple as that. We all feel rather down about it at the moment and just want to concentrate on the coming season.”