English Heritage condemns West Pier

English Heritage today declared the remains of the Grade-I listed structure beyond repair.

The Government-backed conservation body's plan for a back-to-basics restoration, announced earlier this year, was the pier's last hope.

Its experts have now pulled the plug, saying it would be irresponsible to support an application for public money to fund the scheme.

Talk now is of how best to clear the wreckage away from Brighton seafront and where to put the historic features which have been salvaged.

English Heritage was due to publish a report on its plans for the pier next month. Publication was brought forward after its engineers declared the iron structure unsafe.

It says the collapse of the concert hall in storms last month sealed the pier's fate. It describes the Grand Old Lady as now little more than several tonnes of scrap metal.

However, the Brighton West Pier Trust, which owns the pier, is refusing to accept the experts' verdict.

The trust knew nothing of the body's decision to pull out until contacted by The Argus last night.

Chief executive Dr Geoff Lockwood said he would arrange an emergency summit with Brighton and Hove City Council, insisting the pier still had a future.

But council leader Ken Bodfish said: "I fear we have come to the end of the road.

"This is going to be a terrible loss to the seafront but if English Heritage says there cannot be a credible restoration, they are the absolute experts. We have to respect that view, deeply saddening though it may be.

"It has been a 30-year catalogue of disappointments, disasters and misfortunes to say nothing of missed opportunities.

"But it really does look as if time and tide have done for the pier and I join millions in grieving for her.

"We now need to ensure the remains do not blight the seafront."

English Heritage's announcement comes six months after a decision by the Heritage Lottery Fund to refuse a long-promised £14.2 million grant.

Dr Simon Thurley, the body's chief executive, said: "This is a terribly disappointing outcome.

"But common sense has to prevail when historic structures are so badly damaged they cannot realistically be saved. The most important thing now is the marvellous artifacts salvaged from the pier over the years are made accessible.

"This will allow Eugenius Birch's masterpiece to be commemorated properly."

The pier remains one of just two listed piers in Britain and, according to English Heritage, is the most important ever built.

An estimated £20 million would be needed to restore the historic attraction to its original 1866 splendour.

The collapse last month was the last straw after three decades of neglect, two suspicious fires and the steady battering of tides and storms.

When informed of English Heritage's decision, Dr Lockwood said: "We are not going to accept this quietly. We are fed up with decisions being taken in offices in London by elite groups.

"English Heritage says the June storms affected its decision yet a report by our engineer Jon Orrell does not bear that out.

"There are no short-term solutions but there are some long-term possibilities. This is not the end."

Brighton Pavilion Labour MP David Lepper said: "I am sad but not surprised."

He said if the trust and private partners St Modwen had been allowed to go ahead with their ambitious but controversial redevelopment scheme, last month's damage could have been averted.

English Heritage has been working on an intensive review of all the options for the future of the pier.

Regional director Dr Andrew Brown said: "Based on our review, I had high hopes the pier could have been restored to its original 1866 elegance, although it would still have been an enormous challenge to raise more than £20 million to make the scheme a reality.

"Tragically, the storm destroyed the section of the structure where the character of Birch's pier was most apparent. It was the lightest and most graceful part of the design.

"Although it remains technically possible to rebuild the pier accurately using the drawings and photographs that have been collected over the years, it would not now be the real West Pier but largely a reproduction.

"Sadly, we have had to conclude it would be irresponsible for English Heritage to support any further bid for public money for the pier when the heritage merit of the project is no longer clear.

"My thoughts go out to the people who have fought tirelessly for the pier's restoration over the years."

Removing the ravaged structure will not be easy.

Trustees may now be forced to declare it a wreck, making the Crown Commissioners responsible for its removal.

Contractors took several attempts to blow up Margate Pier - also designed by Eugenius Birch - before they were successful.

The West Pier was built in 1866 and at one time attracted more than two million visitors a year.

However, it never recovered fully from damage sustained during the Second World War.

The pier partially closed in 1970 and shut completely five years later.

Brighton Council proposed demolition in 1974 but the We Want The West Pier Campaign, now the West Pier Trust, was formed to save it.

Three commercial attempts to save the pier failed between 1975 and 1995 but the National Lottery offered campaigners new hope.

A grant of £14 million was promised but there were problems with the design of on-shore buildings, which were to be built to fund the scheme.

Eventually a plan by St Modwen and the trust won planning permission last year.

But it was held up by legal challenges by the owners of the Palace Pier bosses, who claimed the publicly-funded restoration constituted unfair competition.

Three sections of the pier have collapsed since 2002, followed by two serious blazes and the collapse of the concert hall last month.