Turning the ravaged West Pier into a solar palace is an idea whose time has come.

Brighton inventor Arthur North wants the rebuilt pier to be clad in modern solar panels, which would turn daylight into electricity.

The electricity generated could be used to power the eco-friendly pier and the surplus could be used by seafront buildings and even sold to the grid.

Greening the once beautiful piece of Victoriana would be a fitting memorial.

The generation of engineers who built the West Pier changed the world in the 19th Century and the technology backed by Mr North might save it in the 21st.

Whatever shape the new-look West Pier takes, a mirror image of what it once was, or something new, bold and modern, it should be as eco-friendly as possible.

It should be able to generate all of the electricity it needs, using solar panels or small windmills, and could even become a mini-power station in its own right.

Who knows, it might not be Frank Gehry's towers at the King Alfred that put Brighton and Hove on the international map but the dear old West Pier.