After nearly half a century of waiting surely it has to be time to expand the Metro to include Washington

Despite my Wearside allegiances, it’s a journey I’m sure many Washington children of the 80s and 90s will remember making.

As I moved into secondary school I would make the same journey to Heworth to catch the Metro to Hebburn swimming pool - the slide was much better there - and later to see the athletics at Gateshead Stadium or enjoy a trip to the fair at South Shields.

In my later teenage years I remember pleading with my mam or dad for a lift - again to Heworth - to venture into Newcastle or South Shields for a night out with friends.

Again, like many Washington locals of my generation, the cry of “dad, can you give me a lift to Heworth” no doubt reverberated around many of the town’s households.

For Washington folk, it was like Heworth had become the transport mecca of the region.

I didn’t give it much thought at the time, but with a population of nearly 70,000 people and home to the city’s biggest employer, Nissan, you have to wonder why Washington, 45 years on, still remains ostracised from what is after all named the ‘Tyne & Wear’ Metro.

Originally opened in 1980 and serving Tyneside, the Metro was first expanded in 1991 to include Newcastle Airport. In 2002, the system eventually expanded to include Sunderland, at a cost of cost £100m.

Part of the funding for the Metro system comes from a levy on the five district councils of Tyne and Wear; Gateshead, Newcastle, North Tyneside, South Tyneside and of course Sunderland of which Washington is very much part.

Yet we still remain the odd one out. In my four decades growing up and living in Washington it has long been a bugbear of local residents.

News announced in July last year (2024) by the then newly appointed mayor, Kim McGuinness, of her pledge to bring the Metro to Washington was met with a sentiment of ‘I will believe it when I see it’.

News announced today that designers have been appointed and a feasibility study commissioned will no doubt be met with similar scepticism.

And after nearly a half a century of waiting, you can’t really blame local people.

But maybe, just maybe, the extension of the line could soon be about to include Washington and, like many of my fellow residents, all I can say is it’s certainly about time.