RSPCA's desperate hunt for refuge

The RSPCA was hoping to build the facility on the site of a former community college in Chester-le-Street, County Durham, which had recently gone into liquidation.

The kennels would have created 29 jobs in the town and catered for 80 cats and 84 dogs, making it the biggest RSPCA centre in the North-East.

But Chester-le-Street District Council planning committee voted this week to block the scheme, following recommendations from planning officers.

Animal welfare groups said that it would have provided vital accommodation for stray cats and dogs, in a region with one of the UK's worst records for animal cruelty.

An RSPCA spokesperson said: "We are in desperate need of a facility like this in the North-East. We will simply have to continue our search for an appropriate site.

"The region is a very densely populated area, so there are a lot of homeless animals that are catered for by us or other similar groups.

"We desperately need a site that is not too close to a residential area - because of the barking - but is convenient for people to reach."

Planners rejected the plans because it contravened Local Plan rules on building and land use in green belt areas.

The RSPCA bought a 100-acre farm at Chester Moor two years ago and had recently purchased the adjoining old Felledge Primary School, which housed the recently-closed Action Community College.

According to figures from the National Canine Defence League, there were 10,700 abandoned dogs in the North-East last year - one stray for every 364 people, well above the national average of one for every 535 people.

With about 20 per cent of dogs taken in by wardens being destroyed, the news has come as a blow to people who look after the animals.

Sue Embleton, of the league's Darlington centre, said: "We are absolutely full every day and this centre could have lifted the pressure. Now the pressure has returned.