Hope of a reap-pier-ance?

Concerned residents form an action group to save it but they are too late and the pier is lost - seemingly forever.

But this tale has two significant differences to the sorry saga of Brighton's West Pier.

Firstly, this one has a happy ending as the pier does reappear - or at least, an impressively rebuilt version. And secondly, the action takes place not in Brighton, but in New Brighton, on New Zealand's South Island.

Add in the narrative of another pier's decline and fall - this one in New Brighton, Merseyside - and it may be thought any juxtaposition of the words "Brighton" and "pier" is jinxed.

But perhaps the ultimately-triumphant tale of the New Brighton Pier in New Zealand could inspire dismayed observers of the ruined 'Old Brighton Pier' here in Sussex.

The New Zealand pier was built in Christchurch in 1894, 28 years after its Sussex counterpart.

Although it was initially popular with visitors to the bustling Brighton beach resort, the structure was increasingly allowed to rot through neglect.

Eventually, the pier became so derelict, it was threatened with demolition in 1963.

A group of outraged residents quickly formed the Pier and Foreshore Society to mount a rescue campaign but their efforts were unsuccessful and the pier razed to the ground in 1964.

Mirroring the slow, stop-start progress of schemes to rebuild the West Pier, there followed more than 30 years of much talk and little action in New Brighton.

But the Pier and Foreshore Society persevered and managed to raise almost £850,000 from the community and another £850,000 from Christchurch City Council.

Their efforts paid off when plans for a new pier were finally drawn up and building work began in 1996.

The pier took 18 months to complete, costing £1.65 million and was officially opened on November 1, 1997. The 300-metre-long pier stands seven metres above high tide and is six metres wide.

Like developers St Modwens' plans for the West Pier, the New Brighton Pier was linked to a mall filled with shops and restaurants.

However, a pier terminus building housing the New Brighton Library was only produced after the pier itself had been rebuilt.

The terminus building designed by Andrew Barclay Associates, cost another £1.65 million and opened on July 24, 1999.

Walking along the pier gives expansive views over the southern ocean waves, the Kaikoura mountain peaks, Christchurch city and the plains and hills of Banks Peninsula.

Perhaps of less inspiration would be the decline of the other New Brighton Pier in Merseyside.

The New Brighton Promenade Pier was originally built in 1867 alongside a separate ferry pier connecting New Brighton to Liverpool. The only entrance was through the turnstiles on the ferry pier.

In its heyday, the 550ft-long and 70ft-wide pier attracted tens of thousands of visitors. The pierrots Aldeler and Sutton performed in the pier's pavilion and a 130ft-long Pavilion Theatre was built.

The theatre was used for pantomimes, early moving-picture shows, plays, concerts and flower festivals.

But newer theatres in the resort started attracting larger crowds and the Pavilion Theatre was closed in 1923.

The pier was closed the same year but reopened four years later with its own entrance from the promenade.

New owners, the Wallasey Corporation, rebuilt the whole of the pier in 1931 at a cost of £31,000.

Fortes Limited took over the pier in 1968, carrying out essential repairs. But the pier's fortunes suffered a resounding blow in 1971 when the New Brighton Ferry service closed.

Without the influx of visitors the ferry provided, the pier was no longer economically viable. The ferry pier was dismantled in 1973 and the promenade pier followed five years later - never to return.

So the answer seems clear to local campaigners wanting to make sure Sussex manages overcome the "Brighton pier jinx".

Don't look north for the answer, look south - 12,000 miles towards the southern hemisphere, that is.