WW2 prison camp will not be demolished for housing

The frames of the 1940s huts at the camp remain

Plans to demolish the remains of a World War Two prison camp to build housing have been turned down.

The former "Camp 53" near Wetherby housed Italian prisoners of war captured during the Allies' campaign in North Africa in 1941.

The derelict camp at Kirk Deighton has been owned by the same family since the 1970s. They applied to North Yorkshire Council to demolish five "hostel" structures and replace them with three modern homes.

However, councillors refused the proposal and said that housing would damage the "historic social narrative" of the camp.

The plans included the retention of a water tower and the addition of an information board about the camp's history, and the houses would have incorporated the footprint and materials of the huts.

At a meeting on 25 June which saw the application rejected, the "encroachment" into open countryside by residential development was also cited as a reason for refusal, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

A previous scheme for five houses on the site was turned down in 2017 and dismissed at appeal.

Kirk Deighton was a "satellite" camp associated with the larger Scriven Hall internment centre nearby.

The hostels had less stringent security than camps for the most dangerous prisoners, and the men were allowed to leave to work on local farms.

It originally had a cookhouse, dining room, accommodation and recreation huts.

The camp was in use until 1948, when the last of the detainees were repatriated.

A significant number of Italian labourers chose to remain in the UK and continued working in agriculture after the war ended.

The site was then adopted by a local farmer but the hostels fell out of use.

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