I just saw that Nexus are inviting community groups to give ideas for ways to re-use of some of the current fleet of Metro trains when they’re retired from 2023 onwards.

I quickly decided there is one place that would be ideal, Tynemouth Station. If you don’t know Tynemouth Station, you’re missing out. It’s something special even when it’s empty, but the place really comes alive at weekends when its vast concourse is taken over by Tynemouth Market.

The market is a roaring success, attracting thousands of people from all over the region, as was the campaign to restore this once dilapidated station to its former glory.

But there’s one area of the station that so far has remained untouched. While all the ironwork and glass roofing has been restored and most old trackbeds have been filled in to give more usable space, the area at the south end of the station is just empty.

There have been a number of plans for this space over the years, the latest being a rather overbearing and insensitive proposal for 71 flats, that would hem the station in and has understandably raised quite a few objections. A bit more density here should be welcomed, but I’m not sure filling every inch of land with a huge monolithic box will do the station much good.

This site really needs a proposal that complements and enhances the station as a destination in its own right. I’ve always imagined that site being taken up by a few smaller buildings rather than one huge one, with commercial and retail space at ground level and plenty of public space to improve access to the station and enable the market to expand. I’ve also always thought that an old train, permanently ‘parked’ at one of the empty platforms, would make a perfect centrepiece to such a development. What better opportunity with Nexus giving away old Metro carriages to celebrate an important piece of Tyneside history at the same time! Unfortunately that’s just a pipe dream if the huge box proposed for this site actually gets built.