Opposition councillors in Gateshead support potentially selling off the near-abandoned "Mary Celeste" civic centre as council bigwigs debate the future of the facility.
Council documents have recently revealed that desk occupancy within the local authority's HQ, on Regent Street, has "plummeted" and at most a mere 480 out of a total of 2,250 desks are used on average. The running costs for the centre are estimated between £1.2m and £1.4m a year.
These empty desks have largely been attributed to hybrid working.
