FRIDAY saw the deadline for public objections to a proposal which will have a major impact on Glasgow city centre, but which the large majority of people have still heard nothing about.

FRIDAY saw the deadline for public objections to a proposal which will have a major impact on Glasgow city centre, but which the large majority of people have still heard nothing about.

When the Concert Hall was built at the top of Buchanan Street nearly 25 years ago it provoked mixed reactions, and the management of the construction project was nothing to be proud of.

But since then its façade has become both a familiar landmark and a well used public space.

The steps leading up to the entrance are a place where people meet, busk, protest, eat lunch, or just watch the world go by.

When people take a civic space like that and make it their own, with informal uses outnumbering the formal ones, it adds something to the urban environment that's worth celebrating.

Instead, the city council wants to get rid of it.

The proposal is to demolish the steps and replace them with a glass "atrium", which will serve as the entrance to an expanded Buchanan Galleries.

This means the loss of that open, civic space which sees such diverse uses by the public.

But I think it would also change the tone of the street.

What is currently a distinctive look, dominated by a non-commercial building and very recognisably Glasgow will be replaced by something which looks like just any other shopping centre.

The top of Buchanan Street and the view up the street from St Enoch Square are important to our city centre's visual character, and we should be wary of simply echoing every anonymous retail environment in the world.

Most people I've spoken to about this were unaware of what's planned, and it's clear that there has been inadequate public involvement in the process.

But campaigners haven't found it hard to gain support; when people do find out about the proposal the majority seem to share the objectors' concerns.

Indeed over 13,000 people have added their names to a petition asking the Council to think again.

Personally I'd like priority given to small, independent retailers and to the local high streets in neighbourhoods across the city, rather than an expansion of a big commercial shopping centre which will probably only be home to multinationals.

These companies tend to crowd out businesses with their roots in the local community, and while they generate economic activity much of the proceeds will be taken out of Glasgow's economy altogether. But even those who support the march of the multinationals should remember the value that comes from an urban environment which supports all kinds of uses - cultural, creative, informal, and political.

Most of all the City Council should remember that the city's economy is supposed to work for the public's benefit, not the other way around.