WELL, here's a photograph to stir the memories: York's British Sugar Factory seen from the air in December 1982. Looking at this, you can almost sell the sickly sweet odour that spread across the city at the height of a 'campaign'...

The factory opened in 1926 to process sugar beet farmed around York. By 1930 it was processing 133,000 tons of beet a year. During the war, sugar was classified as an 'essential element' of Britain's wartime food production, and skilled sugar workers were accorded 'reserved occupation' status.

The factory expanded in the 1950s, and two huge concrete silos were added for the bulk storage of sugar.

But on July 4, 2006 - 13 years ago tomorrow - the factory's 102 workers and 40 seasonal employees were left devastated after British Sugar announced it was to close the plant after one more campaign, with beet processing shifting to British Sugar's nearest other plant in Newark. British Sugar was accused of 'cashing in' after The Press revealed the York site could be worth more than £80 million - double the value of the much larger Newark site. The National Farmers Union claimed that, because of the impact on local farmers, as many as 1,500 jobs could be affected by the decision to close.

The last wagon rolled into the factory in February 2007, although sugar continued to be produced from stored juice until July that year.

Factory buildings had been demolished by July 2009, since when the huge site has lain empty. Last October, planning permission was granted for 1,100 new homes on the site. However, because of the cost of cleaning up the contaminated site, City of York Council agreed that as few as three per cent of these - ie perhaps only 33 homes - would be 'affordable' to buy or rent at below market rates.

Stephen Lewis