"It's almost a Guinness World Record!"

Labour's North East mayor Kim McGuinness announced that £8.6m would be spent to outline plans for the Washington loop, which would run on the northern section of the mothballed Leamside Line.Sunderland Conservative councillor Dominic McDonough raised concerns at a North East Combined Authority (NECA) meeting.

Tobyn Hughes, NECA transport director, said the money would be spent on getting proposals through the extensive planning process.The project could cost up to £745m but is estimated to boost the region's economy by £90m a year, according to theA further £600,000 is due to be spent on developing plans to restore the southern section of the Leamside Line, which runs through County Durham and connects up to the East Coast Main Line.

Speaking at the NECA's overview and scrutiny committee, Mr McDonough claimed the equivalent business case for reopening the Northumberland Line between Ashington and Newcastle cost just £1.5m.The Department for Transport awarded the funding in January 2020 for that project, although it is unclear whether that covered the full costs. Northumberland County Council has been contacted for more details.

Mr McDonough said: "One of the first big announcements we have had from the mayor is £8.6m for the business case for the Leamside Line… that seems incredibly high for me."

Mr Hughes defended the multimillion-pound planning budget and said "railway lines cost a lot of money"."They're a different type of visitor, their demographics are different, their spend is different and their needs are different."

Anna Hume, who grew up on Anglesey and works at Ribride in the summer, agreed that a longer season would create employment."It's great to have a summer job in tourism or hospitality, but there's nothing to keep young people here all year round," she said.

"There's not enough jobs to support young people, then we kind of end up moving away and can't afford to buy houses here because there's not enough income."Frustrations about visitor numbers have already been felt recently, albeit on a smaller scale, after the popularity of Anglesey’s Llanddwyn Beach - helped by it being featured in HBO's House of the Dragon -