diff --git a/bgpd/bgpd.c b/bgpd/bgpd.c
index 00a5e190cb..eccc32f7ab 100644
--- a/bgpd/bgpd.c
+++ b/bgpd/bgpd.c
@@ -1432,8 +1432,6 @@ struct peer *peer_new(struct bgp *bgp)
 	peer->ibuf_work =
 		ringbuf_new(BGP_MAX_PACKET_SIZE * BGP_READ_PACKET_MAX);
 
-	peer->scratch = stream_new(BGP_MAX_PACKET_SIZE);
-
 	bgp_sync_init(peer);
 
 	/* Get service port number.  */
@@ -2629,11 +2627,6 @@ int peer_delete(struct peer *peer)
 		peer->obuf_work = NULL;
 	}
 
-	if (peer->scratch) {
-		stream_free(peer->scratch);
-		peer->scratch = NULL;
-	}
-
 	/* Local and remote addresses. */
 	if (peer->su_local) {
 		sockunion_free(peer->su_local);
diff --git a/bgpd/bgpd.h b/bgpd/bgpd.h
index cddb896615..683d226d7b 100644
--- a/bgpd/bgpd.h
+++ b/bgpd/bgpd.h
@@ -1171,12 +1171,6 @@ struct peer {
 
 	struct stream *curr; // the current packet being parsed
 
-	/* We use a separate stream to encode MP_REACH_NLRI for efficient
-	 * NLRI packing. peer->obuf_work stores all the other attributes. The
-	 * actual packet is then constructed by concatenating the two.
-	 */
-	struct stream *scratch;
-
 	/* the doppelganger peer structure, due to dual TCP conn setup */
 	struct peer *doppelganger;