FOR years the beacon guided vessels in and out of the port of Southampton, but now the old Calshot Spit lightship is in danger of being cast adrift.

The ship is currently on the site of a planned flats development which leads to the weighty problem, of what is to become of the Ocean Village landmark.

Four suggestions have been put forward which include using the lightship as an integral part of any future plans for the city's Royal Pier, an attraction for Mayflower Park, part of the development on the former Vosper Thornycroft site at Woolston or a position overlooking the vessel's old anchorage at Calshot.

There was a cool reaction from Southampton City Council to the idea of positioning the lightship at Mayflower Park.

A council spokesman said: "Suggestions that the Calshot Spit Lightship should be moved to Mayflower Park are highly problematic.

"Its keel is weighted down with concrete which if lifted would most probably cause the bottom to fall out.

"We would also find it hard to justify the use of taxpayers' money to move and maintain what is in fact the property of a private company."

Ever since 1988 lightship number 78, with her distinctive all-red paintwork, has become a landmark on the city's Ocean Village quayside, being lifted into place by three cranes.

The vessel had first entered the water in 1914 after being built by the John I Thornycroft shipyard in Woolston, Southampton.

However, work is due to start towards the end of this year on the construction of the last phase of the Admiral's Quay development in and around the lightship's present site, which may result in the historic ship seeking another home.

This comes as Ocean Village has undergone a transformation into a prestigious waterfront address.

Now owned by Wilson Bowden City Homes, the company behind Admiral's Quay, the Calshot Spit lightship was bought by the original Ocean Village developers for £10,000 at a time when these type of vessels were in vogue with marina operators as they were considered to be a focal point.

Wilson Bowden is keen to preserve the vessel because of its important place in Southampton's maritime heritage but, although initial talks have taken place with "local interested parties'' over possible sites, the future of the ship has still to be finally resolved.

The company has sought advice from well-known local maritime historian and author Dave Hutchinson, of Lee-on-the-Solent.

Mr Hutchinson said: "It is important she should be kept as just a handful of these ships remain.'' A spokesman for Wilson Bowden said: "One of the consequences of our construction activity is that the existing sales and marketing suite will need to be relocated on to the construction site.

"We are exploring various options to accommodate this, one of which may entail the relocation of the Calshot Spit lightship."