I'm sure there are still a few people who don't know what Lumiere is, who certainly don't know that the scheme was this week slapped on ice as the credit crunch bites.

And I'm equally sure even those who've maintained a passing interest in the development will spend no more than a few seconds mourning its loss before turning their attentions to something more pressing.

CLICK HERE TO READ NEWS STORY ON LUMIERE SCHEME BEING HALTED

Ostensibly it's hard to see how more apartments, albeit ones housed in record-breaking towers, could impact directly on the lives of ordinary Leeds people. After all your average Loiner couldn't dream of owning one of the plush pads inside, or even be a part of the modish lifestyle they represent.

But make no mistake the shockwaves of this project being mothballed will ripple across the city, and unless it restarts the flow of wealth which would have trickled down to everyone will dry up.

Even if you ignore the basic maths, the symbolism of Lumiere can't be dismissed. Even those who loathed the plans loathed them precisely because they are so symbolic.

The architectural statement of building something so high, so striking meant that it didn't matter whether it was used as a home for rich professionals or a rubbish dump - we would still be left with an icon.

This was our grand projet - twin beacons of modernity rising like two fingers flicking at other parts of Britain who'd mocked Leeds as a backwater of parochialism and unwarranted aspiration.

Those still dubious should look to Harvey Nichols for a reminder of how raising the bar into a sphere of life previously unknown can rejuvenate in unimaginable ways.

The arrival of the elite retailer kick-started an ailing Victoria Quarter, which then went on to become a lynch pin in our renaissance as a lucrative shopping mecca.

Of course designer hats and handbags were an unlikely economic catalyst to a city like ours, but a catalyst they were.

Suddenly Leeds entered the national vocabulary and with the limelight came new investment and with new investment came jobs.

And I'm not just referring to personal shoppers and window dressers, we're talking about everyone from cleaners, to warehouse operators, to shopfitters, factory workers, builders, managers - a whole spectrum of employment which everyone in Leeds could benefit from.

Who'd have thought that a relatively small Knightsbridge department store could do so much for a post-industrial city on the skids?

Almost 12 years on and Lumiere would have given us a similarly immeasurable boost.

Except while Harvey Nichols merely represented the peak of consumerism, the twin towers would have been the pinnacle of construction, architecture and city living.

You can bet that when the opening ribbon was cut that building would have been splashed across every national newspaper and with it the same renewed interest.

If city living in Leeds were waining somewhat it's almost a given that Lumiere would have reignited the public's imagination and, in turn, have seen more developments follow in the trail it blazed.

And with more developments would have come more jobs and, from plush apartments, greater benefit to the average man and woman on the street.

What now? Where do we go from here?

Well, seemingly all we can do is sit and wait until the credit crunch passes and - as developers have promised - work resumes in two or three years time.

Until that happens we're in the midst of a damage limitation exercise.
It's a case of stemming the flow of similar ventures who are virtually guaranteed to make their excuses and leave Leeds.

I hate to contribute to talking us into deeper economic gloom but ignoring the situation is simply delusionary and counterproductive.

In the meantime draw comfort from the fact that so many investors have already reserved apartments, bolstering Lumiere's viability, and its shelving isn't merely the result of the city living bubble bursting. If either of those things came to pass we really would be up the proverbial creek. Financial climates change but no one will ever build a £155m tower block which is sure to stand empty.

Far from writing it off, the populus needs to get behind Lumiere like never before and that starts with recognising just how important the development is to everyone. Don't hope work will resume, pray.

Of course the city will get by without it, but it remains our chance to stop scraping the barrell and scrape the sky.

After so many decades of hardship doesn't Leeds deserve something more than survival? Haven't we earned the right to flourish?