Brighton and Hove City Council faces an important decision: Whether to allow the proposal by architect Frank Gehry for a dense, mixed-use development which will dominate the coastline for miles.

There are precedents, the most obvious of which is the Royal Pavilion, which was greeted with outrage when it was first proposed.

The question is not so much about its size and impact but how good a piece of architecture it would be. If it were going to be magnificent, it might be justified.

Gehry's first outlandish, zany, and exciting scheme for the site was turned down. It might have been magnificent but was apparently too much for local opinion.

The current scheme is a watered-down version in which the original four towers have shrunk to two stumps, shrouded by undistinguished square blocks and cluttered by a sprawling leisure centre.

It would feel as densely built-up as a metropolitan city centre. Is that what is wanted on Hove seafront?

The scheme now threatens to be anything but magnificent, with a juxtaposition of stunted, Alice-In-Wonderland towers, hemmed in by Eastern Bloc-style tenements.

The only people who will be pleased if it is approved will be the developers.

Anyone who has the environment and character of Hove at heart should object and ask the council to allow the architect to produce a more distinguished scheme.

Those who want to express an opinion on this issue must do so within the next few days.

-Jon Finlayson, East Barnet, Hertfordshire