The news that Hastings Pier could collapse at any time is a sad end to an historic and once popular attraction. But its slow and painful demise was entirely preventable, say campaigners. Miles Godfrey reports.

If Hastings Pier were a person it would have been diagnosed with terminal illness long ago.

For years it has sat on the seafront slowly rotting away and it appears the end of the pier is near.

A 60m stretch of the pier could, as The Argus revealed on Friday, collapse at any moment due to structural failures.

Many in the town believe it could have been saved long ago and neglect is as much to blame as the elements for the fact that the ageing structure is about to collapse into the sea.

They say the warning signs have been there for years.

The owners of the pier during the 1970s, Hastings Pier Company, were the most successful in recent history. They did not make a fortune out of it but enough to maintain the pier's integrity.

Over a number of decades piers have become unfashionable and making a profit out of them has become harder.

But you only have to look along the coast to Brighton to see what a financial success the Noble organisation has made of the Palace Pier.

Part of the problem is that in recent years there has been a lack of strong leadership in Hastings Pier's management.

That reached its nadir in 2002 when Panamanian-registered Ravenclaw Investments bought the pier and put it under the day-today management of its agent Boss Management.

Both firms were fined £40,000 in May 2006 for failing to maintain its upkeep and have since become untraceable, owing hundreds of thousands of pounds to creditors.

And where is Harmesh Pooni, Ravenclaw's financial manager, now? Barricaded into a sea fort in the middle of the Solent which administrators are attempting to claim.

Hastings Pier deserved better and its supporters say if more suitable owners had been found when it was put up for sale in 1996 the current situation could have been avoided.

Both Hastings borough councillor Jeremy Birch, the authority's former leader, and Felix Robinson, chairman of the Hastings Pier and White Rock Trust, lay the blame at the door of Ravenclaw and Boss.

Coun Birch said: "There is absolutely no doubt they are to blame. They were entirely negligent and we are paying the cost for that."

Mr Robinson said: "Ravenclaw was able to make a profit out of the pier, a quite large one from what I understand. But none of it was put back into maintaining it.

"It's difficult to say with certainty whether the pier would be in this situation without Ravenclaw involved but I think it makes it more likely."

A £40,000 survey in December took a swipe at the "fragmented"

management structures which had been in place, laying part of the blame for the current situation on the lack of direction.

It read: "The pier has been most successfully maintained during periods when it has been under single ownership. It is recommended that every attempt should be made to ensure the ownership of the pier is not fragmented.

"Hastings Borough Council should consider carefully any development proposals that will result in the fragmentation of ownership of the structure, particularly in relation to maintenance agreements.

"Any management or maintenance plans produced for the pier should clearly identify the responsibilities of owners and tenants."

While stopping short of naming Ravenclaw and Boss Management, it was an obvious criticism of the way the firms went about, or rather failed to go about, their maintenance duties.

Just about the only realistic hope of saving the pier now lies with the Hastings Pier and White Rock Trust. It is applying for charitable status in the vague hope of securing lottery funding worth millions of pounds.

But that could take years and by then it is almost certain that parts of the structure will have crumbled into the sea.

What should be done to save the pier?