AN angry cat lover has accused a national charity for cats of "becoming property developers" after The Herald revealed a planning application has been made to demolish shelters at its Haslemere branch.

After hearing that Cats Protection applied for planning permission to knock down shelters at its centre on Hammer Lane, and to change the use of the existing building to provide a single family home, Joyce Parsons said she was "very concerned" for cats in the local area.

If planning permission is granted and the centre is sold, 22 cats from Haslemere and its surrounding villages may have to be moved to other branches of the charity at Guildford and Godalming or even to East Grinstead in West Sussex.

"It would appear from the plans that Cats Protection are going to be responsible for building a very large house, in other words they are going to become property developers." said Mrs Parsons who lives in Chiddingfold

A spokesman for Cats Protection told The Herald that the charity is proposing to close two of its branches including the centre in Haslemere and to move the cats to a new head office which is being built in the Ashdown Forest, near East Grinstead in West Sussex, and which can accommodate up to 300 cats.

The spokesman added that plans to close the Haslemere shelter were "not definite" and added that trustees would decide the future of the branch at their next meeting in the "near future".

But Mrs Parsons claims that with the kitten season coming up soon, shelters across the region including Haslemere and the Guildford and Godalming branches will be "fully stretched".

She also claims that in addition to the cats in the shelter, there are more than 20 cats on the waiting list.

She continued: "Without doubt there is a need to keep the Haslemere shelter fully operational to serve its area, which is very large."

Although the Cats Protection spokesman said that if the centre closes, the area will receive the same coverage as before, she added that there were always more cats in the area requiring shelter than could presently be taken to a localshelter.

Mrs Parsons also criticised the charity's decision to use £250,000 to fund a vet to research feline behaviour.

The five-year research project, which started in January 2001, is co-ordinated by Southampton University vet Rachel Casey.

She is currently working with cats and kittens from several Cats Protection shelters to gain a better understanding of behavioural problems and issues such as why certain cats are rehomed faster than others.

Mrs Parsons said the money should have been spent in a more practical way to help cats, and added "who can understand a cat's behaviour better than the people who live or work with it?"

But the Cats Protection spokesman said she would like to reiterate that the charity's whole aim is to help cats.

"If we understand what makes cats tick and how we can help to prevent and cure behavioural problems, we will be able to help them even more and hopefully help to get them rehomed more quickly and more importantly, prevent so many being abandoned in the first place," added the spokesman.

The spokesman also denied that the charity is becoming a property developer.

She said it was in the interests of the charity and cats, that all assets are "fully realised", and added that a higher price could be put on the site if planning permission for a change in use is granted.

"There is no way that we want to become developers, if we sell the site then it is up to the new owners what they do with it. We will not be involved in building or design work.

"But we do need to ensure that should a sale take place we receive a maximum profit," the spokesman said.

p Haslemere Town Council's planning and highway committee decided to object to the plan to sell off the cat shelter on the grounds that it would be taking away a local amenity.

Chairman Jean Arrick told the meeting that she already knew of a petition to save the shelter.

And Jacquie Keen, who also objected to the plans said; "My personal view is that the town would be "losing something of a great need.".