Few issues have enraged the people of Glasgow more than the threat to demolish the steps outside our Royal Concert Hall.

More than 16,000 people have objected since a ‘Save the Steps’ campaign was launched in November last year.

Shrewd opposition politicians from various parties latched themselves to the bandwagon and keenly voiced their concerns, often posing for pictures at the top of Buchanan Street.

Cynics openly speculated about the possibilities if our elected representatives were to devote the same attention to more pressing problems.

Nonetheless, politicians reached a cross-party consensus to oppose the Labour council’s planned demolition of the steps.

In recent years the stone stairway has become an unofficial staging post where the people who make Glasgow speak truth to power.

Destroying the steps would be an affront to democracy, according to those who are battling to save them.

But the focal point at the top of Buchanan Street is not just about protest – it’s a special place for so many citizens.

I remember sitting there with my first girlfriend at the height of summer during school holidays and sipping milkshakes as we spoke about the future.

The steps have sentimental value hundreds of people.

So, the decision to press ahead with demolition has proved almost as unpopular as the ill-fated plans to end a long-standing tradition of placing a traffic cone on Glasgow's iconic Duke of Wellington statue.

That proposal - to raise the plinth as part of a £65,000 project to refurbish the monument - was shelved, amid a furious backlash.

But it became clear that, when it came to the steps, the voice of the people would fall on deaf ears.

In February, the Labour administration rubber stamped plans for a £400million extension to Buchanan Galleries shopping centre.

Capitalism had won the day, it was claimed, and the campaign appeared to lose momentum.

That was until Land Securities, the developers behind plans to double the size of Buchanan Galleries, announced an unexpected delay last month.

The steps were to be given a stay of execution and plans to replace them with a so-called ‘pedal bin’ glass atrium remain on hold several weeks later.

Land Securities said it had concerns its work would clash with the delivery of the Edinburgh Glasgow Improvement Programme [EGIP], scheduled to be underway at the same time.

Now there are claims by politicians that the scheme, which would spell the end for the steps, may never go ahead.

This has prompted fears that there was no need for costly preparatory work and millions of pounds of borrowing sanctioned by cash-strapped Glasgow City Council.

It would now appear that the entire project is going the way of the catastrophic George Square revamp that never was.

The planned half a million pounds facelift - which was thought by some to be an attempt by council leader Gordon Matheson to cement his legacy – was scrapped amid a storm of controversy over the design process.

The aborted attempt at an upgrade is believed to have cost city taxpayers hundreds of thousands of pounds.

If Councillor Matheson, who is standing down next year, presides over another debacle it may take the people of Glasgow a long time to forgive the leader – even if the steps are saved.