One of the aims of the Property Programme is getting more staff working from town centre and city-centre offices to boost their regeneration.

Coun Thornton said one of the major successes of this drive was its Jacob’s Well offices in Nelson Street, which previously was being leased by the Council and needed work done to it.

Under the ten-year scheme, the Council is pulling out of many of its leased buildings, but the authority decided instead to buy Jacob’s Well and has spent money on insulation and other measures to make it far cheaper to run.

Coun Thornton said: “We had occupied Jacob’s Well for a number of years and we would have been liable for putting it back to the way it was, so we took Jacob’s Well on and we have invested in it.

“We have got more staff working in it now. It now costs less to run than it did before, even though there are more people working from it.”

A similar scheme is under way nearby, turning the former Central Library building into more offices for the staff currently working from Future House, in Bolling Road, and Flockton House.