BEST-selling author Peter James knows the value of the West Pier more than anyone.

He featured the skeletal remains of the once-glorious Victorian attraction on the front of his novel, Dead Tomorrow.

He knows how much it means to the people and visitors of Brighton, who every day raise a lens to the stricken structure to capture its twisted beauty.

He said: "During the past decade the skeletal ruins of the West Pier have become one of our city’s most iconic symbols.

"My publishers even used the image on one of my Roy Grace book jackets in which they always depict instantly recognisable images of Brighton and Hove.

"I would love to see the structure preserved in its current form or, if it is too unsafe, even rebuilt as a kind of modern sculpture, and perhaps a fantastic island stage for concerts and light shows."

He is not alone in wanting to see new life breathed into the ruins in the 150th anniversary of its opening.

Guardian journalist Polly Toynbee, who is also the chairwoman of Brighton Festival, also knows the value of the West Pier; it has featured in work by the festival over the years.

She said: "Brighton is very good at new things which have an old resonance.

"We should save it and try to shore it up as much as we can."

She said the structure would benefit from the skills of a "very imaginative artist".

One such artist is Jo Sweeting, a sculptor who wants to see it preserved.

She said: "It is rather like a magical metal armadillo or pangolin - highly sculptural.

"Perhaps it could have its middle-storey structure enclosed in glass for visitors and used as a viewing platform

for the morning and evening sun. It is also a glorious roosting place for starlings and could offer a birdwatching platform.

"Its below wave depths would make a great mussel bed. It is a lovely structure and this would, if people could get to it via a walkway, be a great spectacle for the visitors on the i360. It could also be illuminated in soft light at night."

Paul Zara, an architect at Conran and Partners, said: “Maybe have a hologram of the structure appearing at night, a ghost of the pier that allows us to remember the heritage of the country's finest seaside structure.

“Or maybe a way of projecting a film of the pier in its heyday.”

Nick Lomax of LCE Architects in Brighton had his own designs for the pier in 2003 - before it caught fire twice - involving a sea spa and sea water pool.

He also drew up plans in 2010 for a new sweeping design that had a part-covered promenading deck, some holiday accommodation and a small theatre-style venue in the middle. The holiday apartments would help finance the scheme.

On his 2003 idea, he said: "I was a great believer in the pier. I think that would have drawn an awful lot of people. It was a pretty extensive renovation idea but plans have their day."

All is not lost if we want to preserve the structure exactly as it is - providing a spare £50 million can be found.

Andy Edwards, a quantity surveyor with marine engineering company Kaymac, said it was possible to install sheet piling (a water-tight wall) around the West Pier to create a dry working area and spray the whole structure in a bid to protect it.

But he warned: "It would cost tens of millions just to start work on it and the environmental measures would be costly. You are talking mega money.

"Whether that would stop it falling down, I don't know. You are fighting a losing battle."