The team behind controversial plans to return the West Pier to her former glory has insisted the show will go on.

After 30 years of frustration, yesterday's fire is being seen as just another in a long line of setbacks, nothing more.

The restoration will continue and its owners insisted yesterday that an authentic rebuild is still possible.

Dr Geoff Lockwood, chief executive of the West Pier Trust, said the work would start "no matter what".

The shell of the Grade I listed structure would have been pulled down anyway.

Last month, Brighton and Hove City Council agreed to back the £30 million restoration and the trust is continuing with its grand scheme.

According to Anthony Glossop, chief executive of developer St Modwen, the fire has had no effect on the overall proposals, which involved pulling down the existing structure, saving what could be saved and starting again.

He said: "There will be a rebuild. It will be a very good rebuild. The only sad thing is we might have been able to save a few more artefacts which have now been burnt.

"Most of the exterior had suffered over the years so we always expected a very large amount to be replaced.

"The tragedy of the fire is there is less prospect of reusing original materials.

"But we have got sufficient information and records to still do what we always said we would do, which is to restore to the standard of the Twenties.

"The percentage of artefacts gets less with each disaster but the far end of the theatre had been butchered pretty badly anyway. It always had to be rebuilt."

Dr Lockwood was on holiday in Tenerife when news of the blaze came through.

He said: "It's very sad, of course, just as the partial collapses were in December and January, but it will categorically not affect the authentic restoration.

"We have got sufficient original materials, designs, drawings and artefacts to restore it, no matter what happens to the pier. It is a heritage pier, it must be restored."

He said the iron structure would be unaffected by the fire and any wood would have had to be replaced as part of the restoration anyway.

"It is another sad day in the life of the West Pier but it will be reborn."

Ken Bodfish, leader of the city council, which has passed and supported the restoration proposals, said officers had been due to meet developers yesterday.

As the smoke and flames billowed, the meeting went ahead.

He said: "It's hard to believe. We are obviously anxiously trying to find out how it will affect us.

"There was always going to be a substantial element of rebuilding rather than restoration.

"This will clearly mean far more rebuilding than envisaged. We're certainly not giving up and are remaining optimistic until we have reason not to be.

"We're still very upbeat and there's considerable confidence that the restoration will still go ahead - and even some speculation that the fire could save money in demolition costs.

"English Heritage's view will be important, whether it regards the extra proportion of rebuilding to restoration as acceptable.

"That will affect whether the £14.2 million grant will still be forthcoming from the Heritage Lottery Fund. But we're not anticipating a problem at this stage."

English Heritage was still firmly backing the pier yesterday, saying it was saddened by the fire and wanted to secure its future.

It described the West Pier as "the supreme example of Victorian pleasure piers and the most significant work of the greatest pier engineer, Eugenius Birch".

A spokesman said: "As soon as it is safe, our experts will assess the damage and we will work with the owner to determine the structural soundness of the pier in order for repairs to start as soon as possible.

"We very much hope the proposed redevelopment will still go ahead and are pleased that the local authority has granted permission for a scheme to save this important part of Brighton's heritage."