The fire that destroyed much of Hastings Pier may perversely have been good for the troubled resort.

Hastings could have shrugged its stooped shoulders and agreed to the demolition of a structure that had been nothing but trouble over recent years.

Instead it decided to treat the disaster as a wake-up call in which people power would be prominent.

Hastings Pier was designed by Eugenius Birch whose marine masterpiece was the West Pier 40 miles away in the rival resort of Brighton.

Hastings Pier was also a handsome structure but additions over the years gave it a cluttered and crowded appearance.

The pier was also not a commercial success and was in a sad state late in 2010 at the time of the blaze.

Now it seems as if work will get under way within the next few months on restoring the pier with a great deal of community help. There is even highly optimistic talk about finishing next year.

By contrast the West Pier has been derelict for almost 40 years and even if the i360 observation tower is started shortly it will still be a long time before a new pier is built.

Hastings is benefiting from a substantial sum of lottery cash which was originally destined for the West Pier and which was withdrawn.

Few people in Brighton would begrudge Hastings its good fortune but what happened to the West Pier should never be allowed to occur again.

I have just been to Hastings and for the first time in ages I feel optimistic about its future.

New university buildings and offices in the town centre have brought in hundreds of jobs and shedloads of students.

The Priory Meadow shopping centre already looks surprisingly dated for a new development but there are plans to restore and extend it.

I didn’t agree with the decision to build a relief road on the Bexhill side of the town but at least there will be some benefit from reduced through traffic.

While the broad beach still looks remarkably tacky there are signs of life. The Jerwood Gallery is a welcome addition to the cultural scene although its admission fees are far too steep – especially when the Towner Gallery in Eastbourne is free.

Amid a generally unedifying series of shopping streets, there are a few welcome quality newcomers and I noticed a number of attractive cafes.

Hotels are always a good barometer of a resort’s health and I spotted several new ones including some making the most of Hastings’ quirky charms.

Much more needs to be done, especially in the area of St Leonard’s south of the station which has some of the most shocking deprivation I have seen in Sussex.

The promenade which contained pioneering feature such as underground car parks when borough engineer Sidney Little designed it in the 1930s, now needs attention.

Like many other resorts Hastings has always fared best when being innovative such as in the 1870s when the pier was built and between the wars when it capitalised on the art deco craze.

Marine Court, that great ocean liner of a building on the seafront, was the prime example but even the pier remodelled its interior to suit current trends.

Rail connections to London are still far too slow whether through Lewes or Kent and landslides this winter did not help.

Hastings has attractions few other resorts in Sussex can match such as cliff lifts, caves and a castle.

It is associated with a date 1066 which nearly everyone knows.

It has some glorious architecture ranging from the stately terraces in the west to the medieval delights of the old town. Some its features are unique like the net houses.

Hastings is internationally renowned for being the birthplace of television and the thinly disguised resort in Robert Tressell’s great expose of poverty The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists.

It could and should make more of attractions like Alexandra Park, one of the most perfect urban series of gardens I have ever seen.

Hastings may never go ahead with some of its ambitious schemes such as creating a marina while regeneration progress in the last decade has been only partially successful.

But the pier project has brought to light a new community spirit that shows signs of spreading to other parts of the town and halting its sad, prolonged decline.