An old prison kitchen building will become a museum after receiving authorisation from a council.

Rutland County Council had marketed the former cooking facility of Ashwell Prison to businesses for two years but failed to find an occupier, prompting new plans for its use.

At Tuesday's meeting (October 20), the council's planning committee approved proposals to convert the building into a satellite of the Rutland County Museum in Oakham.

According to a report the building at Oakham Enterprise Park (OEP) will store large collection pieces for the principle museum site, like farming machinery and historic vehicles. The council had previously said it needed to review its existing collection to make way for exhibitions on the prehistoric Ichthyosaur fossil discovered at Rutland Water in 2021, and the Roman Mosaic found at Ketton.

While serving as a storage facility the building's contents will be remain on display for bookable guided tours.

Speaking at the meeting, Cllr Raymond Payne said he was in favour of the conversion project but found it "really disappointing" that the building hadn't received any commercial interest after two years.

"I wonder what we did wrong," he added.

No substantial alterations to the building's exterior are included in the plans beyond installation of a new thermal roller shutter, replacing a green mesh screen and double doors on the facility's northern side.

Download our Nub News App!

- It’s FREE and available now
- Breaking news notifications
- Your Town in Your Pocket

Inside the building the council plans to remove several partitions to accommodate large museum pieces while adding toilets, a workshop and a cleaner store. A host of other general renovations to the walls and ceiling are also planned.

The council has not shared an exact cost of the OEP museum project but said it will be funded as part of the wider museum £7.5 million museum renovation scheme.

Ashwell Prison was a category C prison facility built on the site of an old Second World War military base to the north of Oakham. It remained in operation from 1955 until 2011.