diff --git a/ckan/config/deployment.ini_tmpl b/ckan/config/deployment.ini_tmpl
index 5192b5125f7..3318bcec75f 100644
--- a/ckan/config/deployment.ini_tmpl
+++ b/ckan/config/deployment.ini_tmpl
@@ -162,7 +162,6 @@ ckan.feeds.author_link =
 
 ## Webassets Settings
 #ckan.webassets.use_x_sendfile = false
-#ckan.webassets.external = false
 #ckan.webassets.path = /var/lib/ckan/webassets
 
 
diff --git a/ckan/config/middleware/flask_app.py b/ckan/config/middleware/flask_app.py
index cc4d8ec207a..46e0bcda90b 100644
--- a/ckan/config/middleware/flask_app.py
+++ b/ckan/config/middleware/flask_app.py
@@ -504,9 +504,8 @@ def _setup_webassets(app):
         config.get('ckan.webassets.use_x_sendfile')
     )
 
-    if not toolkit.asbool(config.get('ckan.webassets.external')):
-        webassets_folder = get_webassets_path()
+    webassets_folder = get_webassets_path()
 
-        @app.route('/webassets/<path:path>')
-        def webassets(path):
-            return send_from_directory(webassets_folder, path)
+    @app.route('/webassets/<path:path>')
+    def webassets(path):
+        return send_from_directory(webassets_folder, path)