THE West Pier’s name has returned to the Grand Old Lady for the first time in more than 14 years.

Richard Michalec paddled out to the pier and scaled the precarious legs of the crumbling Grade 1 listed structure to unfurl a banner bearing the same style of writing as the original sign.

But pier bosses branded his stunt “incredibly dangerous” and said the new signage would be removed.

Richard said: “For many years, since the West Pier lost its name, I wanted to put the name back and give the West Pier back its identity, dignity and pride and also wanted to make a point to the local council and people who are against rebuilding the West Pier, that there are still people around who care about the West Pier and are even willing to risk their safety to try to preserve it

“So that’s why I climbed the West Pier on Sunday and put a banner on it, which I designed trying to exactly replicate the original sign.”

Seafront lifeguards watched Richard in his one-man protest - and warned him that his actions could lead others to try to climb the pier.

However, he said he had made every effort to make sure he did not waste the lifeguards’ resources.

He said he spent weeks planning the stunt, surveying the structured from a sea kayak to plan the best route up, and analysing tide times, the weather and wind speeds.

He said: “I pinpointed as much as I could, the ideal day and time of the year, for the safest possible conditions to climb on the West Pier and put the West Pier banner up.

“I hope that my actions will play on the minds of those making decisions about rebuilding the pier.

“Long live the West Pier.”

West Pier Trust chief executive Rachel Clark said: “The man who put the banner up sent us a long email explaining his reasons.

“It was terribly sweet, he is clearly a massive fan of the pier.

“But what he did was incredibly dangerous.

“It is very important no one is encouraged to do anything like this.

“It worries us when you just see a kayaker going close to the bottom of the pier.

“The West Pier is a beautiful and important structure and most people love to look at it, but to try to climb it is incredibly dangerous.”

Ms Clark said new marker buoys and signage would be installed around the pier in the coming days to warn people about the dangers of kayaking under the pier or trying to climb the structure.

She added that when the buoys are installed the banner will be removed.

Ms Clark added that even if Richard’s actions had not been dangerous they would still have been seeking to remove any unauthorised signage from the listed structure.

The pier was hit by two arson attacks in 2003 - ruining plans to save it.