Plans for a new flagship RSPCA hospital and rescue centre near Birmingham have been revealed.

The city has been chosen to be the home of the first national RSPCA centre in the history of the animal charity.

It will be built on a 42,000 sq ft of farmland in Frankley and become the only such centre in the country to have both a hospital and re-homing centre next to each other.

But the RSPCA needs to raise £3 million to ensure the premises can open and has appealed to everyone in the West Midlands to become involved in supporting the project through its new Leaps and Bounds Appeal.

The RSPCA spokesman is ex-Coronation Street star Adam Rickitt who has taken time out of his career to work on the appeal.

The actor, who played Nick Tilsley in the soap, said: “This new development is going to be the beating heart of the RSPCA.

“It will be the only facility in the whole country to have both a hospital and re-homing centre.

“Rescue and hospital treatment and then rehabilitation and finally re-homing – that entire cycle the RSPCA stands for – it will be the only place that can do it in one setting. The people of Birmingham should be really excited about being chosen for the site of the first ever flagship RSPCA centre.”

Its current hospital and re-homing centre in Barnes Hill, Weoley Castle, was built on an old landfill site.

Opened in 1962, it is in such a poor state that some of the rundown buildings there have begun to subside.

Manager Jackie Lines said some of the cracks in the walls are so big you can put your arm through them.

It has also been targeted by burglars

Grandmother Mrs Lines, said the new centre would mean staff could look after the animals without worrying about their surroundings.

“We’re actually going to have the room and the facilities to concentrate on the animals rather than holding the site together,” she said.

“We will have everything that we need up there to do the job. It’s very much make do and mend here.”

Of the break-ins, she said: “We don’t have anything big and expensive in what we do.

“The dogs had radios in their blocks to give them background sound.

“The radios have disappeared and just anything that was lying about. Anything that they would find they would take – even grooming equipment.”

Jackie joined the RSPCA in 1999 after retiring from teaching at an agricultural college. She came to Birmingham in 2006 to help find the new site which is due to open in September 2012.

“It’s not just a job,” said Jackie, who has four rescue dogs at home.

“If you’re not dedicated to it I don’t think you could do it. It’s a job that is a way of life.

“You’re on call 24 hours a day and you have to be able to deal with the bad times to be able to do the job because, sadly, there are a lot of bad times.

“When people use and abuse animals you see the lows of animal welfare.

“The highs are when you have managed to get those animals fit and into a new home where they’re going to be treated properly and with a little respect.

“Animals don’t ask for very much.

“It’s the people that can make something else suffer and not do anything about it, to most of us that’s not comprehensible.

“Animals come in with broken bones, untreated injuries and ongoing health problems that have never been seen by a vet.

“They’ve been systematically starved and beaten.

“It never stops upsetting you.”

In 2010 inspectors rescued nearly 7,000 animals in Birmingham.

The year before there was a 14 per cent increase in the number of cruelty investigations in the city.

The new site will be able to take in up to 160 cats and 60 dogs under licence at any one time.

The modern kennels and cattery will be easier to clean and to keep clean.

It will also be able to rescue birds and small animals including rabbits, ferrets, guinea pigs and hamsters.

There will be a night arrival centre for animals rescued out of hours.

The animal hospital will also be larger and well-equipped.

A large visitor centre and cafe will be built for would-be owners who want to spend time getting to know their new pets.

A new education and training centre is also planned.

The rural farm location, less than four miles from Barnes Hill, will mean more land to exercise dogs.

Receptionist Anne Costello, who has worked at Barnes Hill for four years, said she was looking forward to being able to help more animals.

The 54-year-old, who started as a volunteer, said: “I love it here, I love working with the people because they’re all really committed to their job.

“We’re all here for one purpose and I love seeing the animals, who have come in, in really bad conditions, go out to lovely families.”

Kennels supervisor Kelly Duffy said that there was a real need for cleaner and warmer buildings for the dogs in her care.

“The buildings will be so much easier to clean which will cut down on any infections,” she said.

“If we get things like kennel cough it can grind us to a halt.”