A FINANCIAL crisis in the RSPCA may have sunk plans for an animal welfare centre in the North-East, it is claimed.

The region is renowned as the country's animal cruelty capital and the charity planned to build a major sanctuary at Chester-le-Street, County Durham.

But the charity has been beset by financial problems caused by falls on the stock market and, critics claim, too much spending on expensive political campaigns.

Its national governing council is said to have decided to axe plans for the Chester-le-Street centre, which would have created its second main facility in the region and 15 jobs, to save money.

The charity has spent several thousand pounds on the project because it lodged an appeal against Chester-le-Street District Council's refusal to grant planning permission, which it won.

However, it decided to scale down the development, which would have cost £3m, in the light of the council's opposition.

An RSPCA worker said: "They have decided to abandon the plans because of the financial problems.

"I'm disgusted, because it is needed up here.

"They have already spent thousands of pounds applying for planning permission and appealing against the council's decision.

"Now they say they haven't got the money to build it. It is supposedly down to the financial problems."

A spokeswoman at the RSPCA's headquarters in Sussex said: "We haven't heard anything about this. We don't know

"The council meeting concluded last night and staff will be told on Monday of the decisions made."

The centre was planned on the site of a former school and college at Chester Moor, on the outskirts of Chester-le-Street.

The charity said there was an overwhelming need for it, given the region's high level of animal cruelty.

The other RSPCA centre in the region, at Great Ayton, near Middlesbrough, is consistently full.

Officials said the Chester-le-Street development would help the charity relieve animal suffering more effectively and care for hundreds more animals.